International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Eltekon — Ephesians, Epistle to The
Eltekon
Eltekon - el'-te-kon ('elteqon, "founded by God"): A city in the hill country of Judah (Joshua 15:59) near BETH-ANOTH (which see) to be looked for, therefore, a little North of Hebron. Site unknown.
Eltolad
Eltolad - el-to'-lad ('eltoladh, "kindred of God"): A city of Judah in the Negeb near Edom (Joshua 15:30); in Joshua 19:4 ascribed to Simeon. Probably the same as Tolad (1 Chronicles 4:29), the Arabic article "el" being omitted. Site unknown.
Elul
Elul - e'-lul, e-lool' ('elul, Nehemiah 6:15; Eloul, 1 Maccabees 14:27): The 6th month of the Hebrew year, corresponding to August-September. The derivation is uncertain.
See TIME.
Eluzai
Eluzai - e-lu'-za-i ('el`uzai, "God is my strength"; compare UZZIEL): One of David's heroes (1 Chronicles 12:5).
Elymaeans
Elymaeans - el-i-me'-ans.
See ELAMITES .
Elymais
Elymais - el-i-ma'-is (Elumais): This name, representing the Old Testament Elam (see ELAM), was given to a district of Persia lying South of Media and North of Susiana. In 1 Maccabees 6:1 the common reading, which is adopted by the King James Version, refers to Elymais as a rich city in Persia. No other reference, however, to such a city is found except in Josephus (Ant., XII, ix, 1) who simply follows 1 Macc. The text should therefore be corrected to read as in the Revised Version (British and American), "in Elymais in Persia there was a city."
Elymas
Elymas - el'-i-mas (Elumas, "wise"; Acts 13:8).
See BAR-JESUS.
Elyon
Elyon - e-li'-on.
Elzabad
Elzabad - el-za'-bad ('elzabhadh, "God has given"; Compare ZABDIEL and ZEBADIAH):
(1) The ninth of David's Gadite heroes (1 Chronicles 12:12).
(2) A Korahite doorkeeper (1 Chronicles 26:7).
Elzaphan
Elzaphan - el-za'-fan.
See ELIZAPHAN.
Emadabun
Emadabun - e-ma'-da-bun (Emadaboun); the King James Version, Madiabun (1 Esdras 5:58)): The head of a family of Levites who superintended the repair of the temple; not named in Ezra 3:9.
Ematheis
Ematheis - e-ma-the'-is (Amathias; Emeus; Codex Vaticanus, Emaththis; Codex Alexandrinus, Ematheis; the King James Version, Amatheis): One of the sons of Bebai (1 Esdras 9:29), called "Athlai" in Ezra 10:28.
Embalming
Embalming - em-bam'-ing (chanaT, "to spice"): Embalming. is mentioned in Scripture only in the cases of Jacob and Joseph (Genesis 50:2 f,Genesis 26:1-35). It was a distinctly Egyptian invention and method of preserving the bodies of men and animals. Examples of it reach back to over 3,000 years ago. It prevailed to some extent among the peoples of Asia, and at a later period among the Greeks and Romans, but was in origin and use distinctly non-Israelitish.
See BURIAL.
Embrace
Embrace - em-bras': The word has two distinct meanings in the Old Testament: (1) to clasp and hold fondly in the arms, pointing to a common custom (Genesis 29:13; 33:4; 48:10; 2 Kings 4:16; Song of Solomon 2:6; 8:3; compare Acts 20:10), and (2) to have sexual intercourse (Proverbs 4:8; 5:20; Ecclesiastes 3:5). It seems to have acquired this technical sense in later Jewish usage.
Embroidery
Embroidery - em-broid'-er-i (riqrnah; the King James Version Needlework):
Riqmah was applied to any kind of cloth which showed designs in variegated colors. The method of manufacture is unknown. The designs may have been woven into cloth or drawn in by a needle or hook (Judges 5:30; Psalms 45:14; Ezekiel 16:10, 13, 18; 26:16; 7, 16, 24).
Ma`aseh raqam is translated "the work of the embroiderer" in the Revised Version (British and American) instead of "needlework" (Exodus 26:36; 27:16; 28:39; 36:37; 38:18; 39:29; Judges 5:30; Psalms 45:14).
Raqam, "embroiderer," occurs in Exodus 35:35; 38:23. The fact that this word is used instead of `aragh, "weaver," would lead us to suppose that the embroiderers' work was either different from that of the weaver or that a "raqam" was especially skilled in fine weaving. Another word, choshebh, is used to describe a skillful weaver. "Cunning work" in the King James Version of Exodus 26:1, 31; 6, 15; 33, 15; 8, 35; 3, 1 is rendered in the American Standard Revised Version "work of the skillful workmen." The passage has been freely rendered "designers."
In the Revised Version (British and American) of Exodus 28:39 shabhats is translated "weave."
In Exodus 28:4 occurs the word tashbets, which is translated "broidered" in the King James Version and "checker work" in the Revised Version (British and American). If this kind of work is what it is supposed to be, it is more truly "needlework" than the embroidery. This work is still done in some of the Syrian cities and towns, especially in Damascus. Small caps for men to wear under their ordinary headdress and loose outer garments or dressing-gowns are the forms in which it is commonly seen. The checker-work effect is obtained by sewing in a cotton string between two pieces of cloth, so as to form designs. The patterns Usually run to straight lines such as zigzags or squares. The effect is striking, and we can well imagine would have made an impressive priest's robe, especially if costly materials were used.
See also CRAFTS.
James A. Patch
Emek-keziz
Emek-keziz - e-mek-ke'-ziz (`emeq qetsits; the King James Version Valley of Keziz (Joshua 18:21)): A town in Benjamin named between Beth-hoglah and Beth-arabah, and therefore to be sought in the plain, probably South of Jericho. The name has not been recovered.
Emerald
Emerald - em'-er-ald.
Emerods
Emerods - em'-er-odz `ophalim, techorim): These words are used in the account of the plague which broke out among the Philistines while the captive Ark of the Covenant was in their land. `Ophalim literally means rounded eminences or swellings, and in the Revised Version (British and American) is translated "tumors" (1 Samuel 5:6-12). In the Hebrew text of this passage the Qere substitutes for it the word techorim, a term which occurs in the next chapter in the description of the golden models of these swellings that were made as votive offerings (1 Samuel 6:11-17). The swellings were symptoms of a plague, and the history is precisely that of the outbreak of an epidemic of bubonic plague. The older writers supposed by comparison of the account in 1 Sam with Psalms 78:66 that they were hemorrhoids (or piles), and the older English term in the King James Version is a 16th-century form of that Greek word, which occurs in several medical treatises of the 16th and 17th centuries. There is, however, no evidence that this identification is correct. In the light of the modern research which has proved that the rat-flea (Pulex cheopis) is the most active agent in conveying the virus of plague to the human subject, it is worthy of note that the plague of tumors was accompanied by an invasion of mice (`akhbor) or rats. The rat is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, although it was as common in Canaan and Israelite times as it is today, a fact demonstrated by the frequency with which their bones occur in all strata of the old Palestinian cities, so it is probable that the term used was a generic one for both rodents.
The coincidence of destructive epidemics and invasions of mice is also recorded by Herodotus (ii.141), who preserves a legend that the army of Sennacherib which entered Egypt was destroyed by the agency of mice. He states that a statue of Ptah, commemorating the event, was extant in his day. The god held a mouse in his hand, and bore the inscription: "Whosoever sees me, let him reverence the gods." This may have been a reminiscence of the story in Isaiah 37:36. For other references see PLAGUE.
Alex. Macalister
Emim
Emim - e'-mim ('emim; Ommaein, Ommein, or Ommiein): Stated to have been the earlier inhabitants of Moab (Deuteronomy 2:10-11), and to have been of tall stature, and hence, "accounted Rephaim (or giants) as the Anakim" or the Zamzummim of Ammon (Deuteronomy 2:20). As the name was given to them by the Moabites, it may not have been that by which they called themselves. A tall race, known to the Israelites as REPHAIM (which see), once existed in Southern Palestine as well as on the East side of the Jordan, but its exact relationship is unknown. In the time of Abraham the Emim were living in the Moabite district of Shaveh-kiriathaim, identified with the modern Kureiyat (Genesis 14:5).
A. H. Sayce
Eminent
Eminent - em'-i-nent: In the King James Version (only in Ezekiel 16:24, 31, 39; 17:22) refers literally to physical elevation; the Revised Version (British and American) in the last passage renders "lofty" (Hebrew talul, "uplifted," "heaped up") and in the others "vaulted place" (Hebrew gabh, "rounded place," "mound" the English Revised Version, margin "a vaulted chamber").
Emmanuel
Emmanuel - e-man'-n-el.
See IMMANUEL.
Emmaus
Emmaus - e-ma'-us, em'-a-us (Emmaous, derivation uncertain, but probably from chammath, "a hot spring"): Josephus (BJ, IV, i, 3) says: "Now Emmaus, if it be interpreted, may be rendered `a warm bath' for therein is a spring of warm water useful for healing." Here he is referring to the hot springs near Tiberias. Possibly the same Greek name may not always have been derived from the same Hebrew, and as Cheyne suggests (2) may have come from ha-motsah (see below).
1. Emmaus of the Apocrypha: A place where Judas Maccabeus defeated Gorgias (1 Maccabees 4); it was "in the plain" (1 Maccabees 3:40); it was subsequently fortified by Bacchides (1 Maccabees 9:50). It is frequently mentioned by Josephus (Ant., XIV, xi, 2; BJ, I, xi, 2; II, v, 1; xx, 4; IV, viii, 1; V, i, 6), and also in the Talmud and Midrash. It is now the modern mud-village of `Amwas, 20 miles along, and a little North of, the main road from Jerusalem to Jaffa. In the 3rd century it was called Nicopolis and was an episcopal see; in early Christian times it was famous for a spring of reputed healing qualities.
2. Emmaus of Luke: The Emmaus of Luke 24:13, a village 60 furlongs (stadia) from Jerusalem. Early Christian tradition appears to have identified it with (1) and hence, to harmonize the distance, some manuscripts have 160 furlongs. Eusebius and Jerome place this Emmaus at `Amwas; but in the first place (1) was a city and not a village (kome), and secondly (2) the distance, 40 miles there and back, is an almost impossible one for the narrative. In Crusading times this difficulty appears to have been realized, and on what grounds is not known, Kubeibeh at just over 60 stadia, Northwest of Jerusalem, was selected as the site of Emmaus. There a fine church was built which has in recent years been rebuilt and today a Franciscan hospice and school, attached to the church, and a newer German Roman Catholic hospice, combine with the considerable picturesqueness of the place itself to fortify the tradition.
A much more probable site is Quloniyeh, a village about 35 stadia from Jerusalem, on the road to Jaffa. Josephus narrates (BJ, VII, vi, 6) that Vespasian "assigned a place for 800 men only whom he had dismissed from his army which he gave them for their habitation; it is called Emmaus and is distant from Jerusalem 60 furlongs." This is almost certainly the Emmaus of Luke; it is highly probable that the name quloniyeh is derived from the fact of its being this Colonia. Close to this place is a ruin known as Bet Mizza, which is probably the Mozah (ha-motsah) of Joshua 18:26 which in the Talmud (Cukk. 4 5) is also described as a colonia. Today it is a "colony" of Jews who have revived and always use the old name Motsah for their settlement.
Other suggestions for this Emmaus are (a) el Khamsa, considerably over 60 stadia Southwest of Jerusalem (Conder); (b) Koriet el `enab, some 10 stadia farther a1ong the Jerus-Jaffa road than Kuloniyeh (LB, etc.); and (c) `Artas, S. of Bethlehem, where remains of Roman baths have been found (Mrs. Finn). In not one of the places suggested are there any hot springs.
E. W. G. Masterman
Emmer
Emmer - em'-er (Emmer): Head of a family, some of whom had married foreign wives (1 Esdras 9:21); called "Immer" in Ezra 10:20.
Emmeruth
Emmeruth - em'-er-uth (Emmerouth; the King James Version Meruth; 1 Esdras 5:24): Corresponding to "Immer" in Ezra 2:37.
Emmor
Emmor - em'-or: Transliterated from the Greek Emmor, the translation of Hebrew chamor, "ass" (Acts 7:16 the King James Version; the Revised Version (British and American) "Hamor", which see).
Emperor
Emperor - emp'-er-er (ho sebastos; Latin augustus: The title of the Roman emperors; Acts 25:21, 25).
Empty; Emptier
Empty; Emptier - emp'-ti, emp'-ti-er (kenos): "Empty," adjective meaning void, etc., as the translation of req, riq, reqam, etc., occurs in the literal sense of "with nothing" (Genesis 31:42; Job 22:9); in 2 Samuel 1:22, it is equivalent to "in vain," "hungry" (Isaiah 29:8); in some instances the meaning is comparative only; baqaq, "to gush out," "to pour out," "to empty" is used adjectivally (Hosea 10:1, "Israel is an empty vine"; but the Revised Version (British and American) takes the Hebrew word in its original sense of "pouring out," rendering "Israel is a luxuriant vine"); tohu, "emptiness" (Job 26:7); kenos, "empty" is so translated (Mark 12:3); in Matthew 12:44, the Greek word is scholazo, "to be free," "unoccupied"; "to empty" (verb) is the translation of baqaq (Nahum 2:2), of dalal, "to become poor," etc. (Isaiah 19:6, the English Revised Version "minished," the American Standard Revised Version "diminished"). the Revised Version (British and American) has "empty" for "vain" (Ephesians 5:6), "emptied himself" for "made himself of no reputation" (Philippians 2:7), "emptied out" for "gathered" (2 Kings 22:9; 2 Chronicles 34:17, margin "poured out").
W. L. Walker
Emulation
Emulation - em-u-la'-shun (zelos, parazeloo): Occurs twice in the New Testament, once in a bad sense and once in a good sense.
(1) In Galatians 5:20 the King James Version it is the translation of zelos ("zeal," "earnestness," "enthusiasm") where it is classed among "the works of the flesh" and signifies the stirring up of jealousy or envy in others, because of what we are, or have, or profess. The Greek word is used in this sense in Acts 13:45; Romans 13:13; 1 Corinthians 3:3; James 3:14, 16; 2 Corinthians 12:20; Galatians 5:20; the Revised Version (British and American) translated by "jealousy." It denotes a work of the flesh or lower nature, which Christians often fail sufficiently to guard against; it pleases "the flesh" to excite such a feeling in others.
(2) In Romans 11:14 the King James Version "emulation" is the translation of parazeloo ("to make one zealous or jealous"), and is there used in a good sense. "If by any means I may provoke to emulation (the Revised Version (British and American) jealousy) them that are my flesh" (compare Romans 10:19, quoted from Deuteronomy 32:21). It is well to "provoke to emulation" in this sense, those who are slow or indifferent, by the example of earnestness and zeal on our part. This is not to please "the flesh," but to serve "the Spirit."
W. L. Walker
En-
En- - (`ayin (compare Arabic `Ain)): The Hebrew word for "spring" or "fountain" (Genesis 16:7; Numbers 33:9; Nehemiah 2:14; Proverbs 8:28 (feminine plural)). It occurs in numerous compound words, as EN-GEDI, EN-HADDAH, EN-HAKKORE, EN-HAZOR, EN-RIMMON, EN-ROGEL, EN-SHEMESH (which see). In the same way the word `Ain is a very common component of Arabic names of places throughout Palestine and Syria at the present day. Places with names compounded with "En-" were almost certainly located near a spring.
Enable
Enable - en-a'-b'-l: Only in 1 Timothy 1:12 (the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)) in the sense of "strengthen" (Greek endunamoo, "endue with strength").
Enaim
Enaim - e-na'-im (`enayim, "place of a fountain"; Ainan; Genesis 38:14 (the King James Version "in an open place"; Genesis 38:21 the King James Version "openly")): A place which lay between Adullam and Timnath; probably the same as Enam (Joshua 15:34). Also mentioned in close connection with Adullam. It was in the Shephelah of Judah. The Talmud (Pesik. Rab. 23) mentions a Kephar Enaim. Conder proposes Khurbet Wady `Alin, which is an ancient site, evidently of great strength and importance, lying between Kh. `Ain Shems and the village of Deir Aban. The ruins crown a lofty and almost isolated hill; the greatest objection to the identification is that there is no fountain at all in the immediate neighborhood. There may have been one in earlier times. See PEF ,III , 128.
E. W. G. Masterman
Enam
Enam - e'-nam. See preceding article.
Enan
Enan - e'-nan (`enan, "having fountains," or "eyes," i.e. "keen-eyed"; in Septuagint Ainan): The father of Ahira, and prince of Naphtali at the first census of Israel (Numbers 1:15; 2:29; 78, 83; 10:27).
Enasibus
Enasibus - e-nas'-i-bus (Enasibos, 1 Esdras 9:34): Corresponding to "Eliashib" in Ezra 10:36.
Encampment
Encampment - en-kamp'-ment.
See WAR.
Encampment By the Red Sea
Encampment By the Red Sea - According to the version of the wanderings of Israel given in Numbers 33:1-56, they "encamped by the Red Sea" (verse 10) after leaving Elim and before entering the Wilderness of Sin.
See WANDERINGS OF ISRAEL.
Enchantment
Enchantment - en-chant'-ment: The occult arts, either supposedly or pretentiously supernatural, were common to all oriental races. They included enchantment, sorcery, witchcraft, sooth-saying, augury, necromancy, divination in numberless forms, and all kinds of magic article Nine varieties are mentioned in one single passage in the Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 18:10-11); other varieties in many passages both in the Old Testament and New Testament, e.g. Leviticus 19:26, 31; Isaiah 2:6; 57:3; Jeremiah 27:9; Micah 5:12; Acts 8:9, 11; 6, 8; Galatians 5:20; Revelation 9:21. The extent of the magic arts (forbidden under Judaism and Christianity) may incidentally be seen from the fact that the Scriptures alone refer to their being practiced in Chaldea (Daniel 5:11), Babylon (Ezekiel 21:21), Assyria (2 Kings 17:17), Egypt (Exodus 7:11), Canaan (Leviticus 18:3, 11; 26, 31), Asia (Ephesus, Acts 19:13, 19), Greece (Acts 16:16), Arabia also, as "customs from the East," etc. (Isaiah 2:6) indicates. These secret arts were prohibited by the laws of Moses (Deuteronomy 18:9-12), inasmuch as they constituted a peculiar temptation to Israel to apostatize. They were a constant incentive to idolatry, clouded the mind with superstition, tended and were closely allied to imposture (Matthew 24:24). The term "enchantment" is found only in the Old Testament and its Hebrew originals indicate its varieties.
(1) laTim, and lehaTim "to wrap up," "muffie," "cover," hence, "clandestine," "secret." It was this hidden element that enabled the magicians of Egypt to impose on the credulity of Pharaoh in imitating or reproducing the miracles of Moses and Aaron; "They .... did in like manner with their enchantments" (Exodus 7:11, 22). Their inability to perform a genuine miracle is shown by Exodus 8:18.
(2) nachash, "to hiss," "whisper" referring to the mutterings of sorcerers in their incantations. Used as a derivative noun this Hebrew word means "a serpent." This involves the idea of cunning and subtlety. Although employed in the wider sense of augury or prognostication, its fundamental meaning is divination by serpents. This was the form of enchantment sought by Balaam (Numbers 24:1). Its impotence against the people of God is shown by Numbers 23:23 m. Shalmaneser forced this forbidden art upon the Israelites whom he carried captive to Assyria (2 Kings 17:17). It was also one of the heathen practices introduced during the apostasy under Ahab, against which Elijah protested (compare 1 Kings 21:20).
(3) lachash, "to whisper," "mutter," an onomatopoetic word, like the above, in imitation of the hiss of serpents. It is used of the offensive practice of serpent charming referred to in Ecclesiastes 10:11, and as Delitzsch says, in the place cited., "signifies the whispering of formulas of charming." See also Isaiah 3:3, "skilful enchanter"; Jeremiah 8:17, "serpents, cockatrices (the Revised Version (British and American) "adders") .... which will not be charmed"; Psalms 58:4-5, "the voice of charmers (the Revised Version, margin "enchanters"), charming never so wisely." Ophiomancy, the art of charming serpents, is still practiced in the East.
(4) chebher, "spell," from chabhar, "to bind," hence, "to bind with spells," "fascinate," "charm," descriptive of a species of magic practiced by binding knots. That this method of imposture, e.g. the use of the magic knot for exorcism and other purposes, was common, is indicated by the monuments of the East. The moral mischief and uselessness of this and other forms of enchantment are clearly shown in Isaiah 47:9, 12. This word is also used of the charming of serpents (Deuteronomy 18:11; Psalms 58:5).
(5) `anan, "to cover," "to cloud," hence, "to use covert arts." This form of divination was especially associated with idolatry (so Gesenius, Hebrew Lexicon). Delitzsch, however, in a note on this word (Isaiah 2:6), doubts the meaning "conceal" and thinks that it signifies rather "to gather auguries from the clouds." He translates it "cloud-interpretive" (Micah 5:12). This view is not generally supported. Rendered "enchanters" (Jeremiah 27:9, the Revised Version (British and American) "soothsayers"; so also in Isaiah 2:6). Often translated in the Revised Version (British and American) "practice augury," as in Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:10, 14; 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chronicles 33:6; a form of magical art corresponding in many respects to that of the Greek mantis, who uttered oracles in a state of divine frenzy. Septuagint kledonizomai, i.e. augury through the reading or acceptance of a sign or omen. A kindred form of enchantment is mentioned in the New Testament (2 Timothy 3:13; Greek goetes, "enchanters," "jugglers," the original indicating that the incantations were uttered in a kind of howl; rendered "seducers" the King James Version, "impostors" the Revised Version (British and American); compare Revelation 19:20). The New Testament records the names of several magicians who belonged to this class of conscious impostors: Simon Magus (Acts 8:9); Bar-Jesus and Elymas (Acts 13:6, 8); the slave girl with the spirit of Python ("divination," Acts 16:16); "vagabond (the Revised Version (British and American) "strolling") Jews, exorcists" (Acts 19:13; compare Luke 11:19); also the magicians of Moses' day, named Jannes and Jambres (2 Timothy 3:8).
All these forms of enchantment claimed access through supernatural insight or aid, to the will of the gods and the secrets of the spirit world. In turning away faith and expectation from the living God, they struck a deadly blow at the heart of true religion. From the enchanters of the ancient Orient to the medicine-men of today, all exponents of the "black art" exercise a cruel tyranny over the benighted people, and multitudes of innocent victims perish in body and soul under their subtle impostures. In no respect is the exalted nature of the Hebrew and Christian faiths more clearly seen than in their power to emancipate the human mind and spirit from the mental and moral darkness, the superstition and fear, and the darkening effect of these occult and deadly articles For more detailed study see DIVINATION; ASTROLOGY.
Dwight M. Pratt
End
End - (qets, 'ephec, kalah; telos, sunteleo): The end of anything is its termination, hence, also, final object or purpose. It is the translation of several Hebrew and Greek words, chiefly in the Old Testament of qets (properly, "a cutting off") and other words from the same root (Genesis 6:13, "The end of all flesh is come before me"); 'acharith, "hinder part," is also frequently translated "end" (Deuteronomy 11:12; Psalms 37:37-38, American Revised Version: "There is a happy end to the man of peace .... The end of the wicked shall be cut off"; the English Revised Version "latter end" (Psalms 37:37), margin "reward" or "future posterity"; Psalms 73:17; Jeremiah 5:31); coph (from cuph "to come to an end") is several times translated "end" (2 Chronicles 20:16; Ecclesiastes 3:11; 7:2). "End" in the sense of purpose is the translation of lema`an, "to the intent" (Exodus 8:22, "to the end thou mayest know"), and of dibhrah (from dabhar, "to speak"); Ecclesiastes 7:14 "to the end that man should find nothing after him" (the Revised Version (British and American) "should not find out anything (that shall be) after him"). "Ends of the earth" is the translation of 'ephec, "extremities" (Deuteronomy 33:17; Psalms 22:27), also of kanaph, "wing" (Job 37:3; 38:13). Other words are netsah, "utmost" (Job 34:36), tequphah, "circuit," "revolution" (Exodus 34:22; 2 Chronicles 24:23, the Revised Version, margin "revolution"), etc. The verb occurs almost invariably in the phrase "to make an end," as the translation of kalah, "to finish," "complete" (Genesis 17:27; Deuteronomy 20:9; Jeremiah 26:8, etc.); also of nalah, "to complete" (Isaiah 33:1), and shalam, "to finish" (Isaiah 38:12-13).
In Daniel 9:24, the Iteb text has chatham, "to seal up" ("to complete or finish"), but the margin, followed by the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American), Driver and most moderns, has hathem, "to finish," "end," "complete," a difference of one letter, but practically none in the sense, "to bring to an end"; compare "to finish the transgression," which precedes.
In the New Testament the common word for "end" is telos "an end," "completion," "termination" (Matthew 10:22; 24:6; John 13:1, the Revised Version, margin "to the uttermost"; Romans 6:21, "The end of those things is death"; Romans 6:22, "the end eternal life; Romans 10:4, Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness"; Revelation 21:6; 22:13, etc.); ekbasis, "outgoing" (Hebrews 13:7, the Revised Version (British and American) "issue"); sunteleia, "full end," is used of "the end of the world" (Matthew 13:39; Hebrews 9:26); peras, "extremity," "the ends of the world" (Romans 10:18); akros, "a point, end" (Matthew 24:31, "from one end of heaven to the other"). End as purpose is the translation of eis to, "with a view to" (Acts 7:19; Romans 1:11; 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 3:13); of eis touto, "unto this" (John 18:37; Romans 14:9; 2 Corinthians 2:9); of pros to, "toward this" (Luke 18:1). "To end" (verb) is pleroo, "to fill up" (Luke 7:1; Acts 19:21); once ginomai, "to become" (John 13:2, "supper being ended," which the Revised Version (British and American) corrects, giving, "during supper").
For "end" the Revised Version (British and American) has "uttermost part" (Joshua 15:8, etc.), "latter end" (Psalms 73:17; the English Revised Version Psalms 37:38; Proverbs 5:4); "issue" (Daniel 12:8, margin "latter end"; Hebrews 13:7); "side" (Ezekiel 41:12). Conversely, it has "end" for "uttermost part" (Joshua 15:5); for "side" (Deuteronomy 4:32); for "conclusion" (Ecclesiastes 12:13); for "an end" (Proverbs 23:18); "a reward," margin "sequel" or "future," Hebrew "latter end"; "final" (Hebrews 6:16); for "an end of" (Job 18:2), "snares for" (the American Standard Revised Version "hunt for"); for "at one end" (Jeremiah 51:31), "on every quarter"; for "until the day and night come to an end" (Job 26:10), "unto the confines of light and darkness"; for "have an end" (Luke 22:37), "hath fulfillment," margin, Greek "end"; for "to the end for" (1 Peter 1:13), "perfectly on"; "at the end of" for "in these last days" (Hebrews 1:2); "His end was nigh" for "He died" (Hebrews 11:22); "its own end," instead of "for himself" (Proverbs 16:4, margin "his own purpose"); "neither is there any end to" instead of "for thine iniquities are infinite" (Job 22:5); "to this end" for "therefore" (Mark 1:38; 1 Timothy 4:10); for "for this cause," "to this end" (John 18:37 twice), "unto this end" (1 Peter 4:6); "to this end" for "for this purpose" (Acts 26:16; 1 John 3:8); "to which end" for "wherefore" (2 Thessalonians 1:11); "to the end" is inserted in Genesis 18:19 bis, and several other passages. For "ends of the earth" see ASTRONOMY, sec. III, 2.
W. L. Walker
End of the World
End of the World - See ESCHATOLOGY; WORLD, END OF THE.
Endamage
Endamage - en-dam'-aj: Archaic for "damage"; Ezra 4:13 the King James Version: "Thou shalt damage the revenue of the kings," the Revised Version (British and American) "It will be hurtful unto the kings" (Aramaic nezaq); compare 1 Esdras 6:33.
Endeavor
Endeavor - en-de'-ver: The sense of this word has suffered weakening since the time of the King James Version. Then it implied utmost exertion and success; now rather forlorn hope and possible failure. Thus the Revised Version (British and American) reads "giving diligence," "give diligence," for the King James Version "endeavoring," "endeavor," in Ephesians 4:3; 2 Peter 1:15, respectively; but "endeavored" is suffered to remain in 1 Thessalonians 2:17 (spoudazo, "hasten," "exert oneself"). Compare also Acts 16:10, the King James Version "endeavored," the Revised Version (British and American) "sought" (Greek zeteo, "seek").
Endirons
Endirons - end'-i-urnz (shephattayim): Used once (Ezekiel 40:43 the King James Version) in the margin only. In text, both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American), "hooks," denoting stalls or places for the fastening of victims for sacrifice, or perhaps the two hearthstones. The term is a corruption from another word similar in form and identity of usage. This word, "andiron," from Middle English, has assumed many peculiar forms, as "anderne," "aundirne," from which the form is doubtless derived, though this is not the original and has no relation to it. the American Revised Version, margin reads, "According to Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) and Syriac, ledges."
Endless
Endless - end'-les (akatalutos (Hebrews 7:16], aperantos (1 Timothy 1:4)): This English word occurs twice in the New Testament, and is there represented by the two Greek words above noted.
(1) In Hebrews 7:16 Jesus is said to be a priest "after the power of an endless life." The word means literally, as in the Revised Version, margin, "indissoluble." It is not simply that Christ's priesthood was eternal. The priesthood was based upon His possession, by nature, of a life which in time and eternity death could not touch. This distinguished Him essentially from priests under the law.
(2) In 1 Timothy 1:4, Paul warns Timothy against giving heed in his ministry to "fables (muthoi) and endless (limitless) genealogies." The allusion seems to be to the series of emanations (aeons) in Gnostic speculation, to which no limit could be set.
Distinct from the above are the words denoting "everlasting," "eternal," which see.
James Orr
En-dor
En-dor - en'-dor `en dor, Joshua 17:11; `en dor, 1 Samuel 28:7; `en do'r, Psalms 83:10; Codex Alexandrinus, Nendor; Codex Vaticanus, Aeldor): A town in the lot of Issachar assigned to Manasseh (Joshua 17:11). Here dwelt the woman who had a familiar spirit, whom Saul consulted on the night before the battle of Gilboa (1 Samuel 28:7). Here also, according to Psalms 83:10, perished fugitives of Sisera's army, after their defeat at the Kishon. The place was therefore not far from the Kishon and Tabor. It is generally identified with the modern Endur, a small village on the northern slope of Jebel ed-Duchy, with several ancient caves. It is not far from Nain and Shunem, and looks across the valley along which the broken ranks of Sisera may have attempted to make their way eastward to the open uplands, and thence to their native North. Coming hither from Gilboa, eluding the Philistine outposts under cover of the darkness, Saul would cross the Vale of Jezreel, and pass round the eastern base of the mountain, the Philistines being on the west.
W. Ewing
En-dor, Witch of
En-dor, Witch of - wich: In 1 Samuel 28:3-25, it is narrated how Saul, in despair of mind because Yahweh had forsaken him, on the eve of the fatal battle of Gilboa, resorted in disguise to "a woman that had a familiar spirit" ('obh: see DIVINATION; NECROMANCY), at En-dor, and besought the woman to divine for him, and bring him up from the dead whom he should name. On the woman reminding him how Saul had cut off from the land those who practiced these arts--a proof of the existence and operation of the laws against divination, witchcraft, necromancy, etc. (Leviticus 19:31; Deuteronomy 18:9-14)--the king assured her of immunity, and bade her call up Samuel. The incidents that followed have been the subject of much discussion and of varied interpretation. It seems assumed in the narrative that the woman did see an appearance, which the king, on her describing it, recognized to bethat of Samuel. This, however, need be only the narrator's interpretation of the events. It is not to be credited that the saintly Samuel was actually summoned from his rest by the spells of a professional diviner. Some have thought that Samuel, by God's permission, did indeed appear, as much to the woman's dismay as to the king's; and urge in favor of this the woman's evident surprise and terror at his appearance (1 Samuel 28:12 ff), and the true prophecy of Saul's fate (1 Samuel 28:16-19). It may conceivably have been so, but the more reasonable view is that the whole transaction was a piece of feigning on the part of the woman. The Septuagint uses the word eggastrimuthos ("a ventriloquist") to describe the woman and those who exercised kindred arts (1 Samuel 28:9). Though pretending ignorance (1 Samuel 28:12), the woman doubtless recognizes Saul from the first. It was she who saw Samuel, and reported his words; the king himself saw and heard nothing. It required no great skill in a practiced diviner to forecast the general issue of the battle about to take place, and the disaster that would overtake Saul and his sons; while if the forecast had proved untrue, the narrative of the witch of En-dor would never have been written. Saul, in fact, was not slain, but killed himself. The incident, therefore, may best be ranked in the same category as the feats of modern mediumship.
James Orr
Endow; Endue
Endow; Endue - en-dou', en-du': "Endow" meant originally "to provide with a dowry"; "indue" took the meaning "clothe"; the likeness between the literal meanings has confused the metaphorical use of the words in spite of their difference in origin. Thus we find in Genesis 30:20, the King James Version "endued me with a good dowry" the Revised Version (British and American) "endowed" (zabhadh, "bestow upon," "endow"); Exodus 22:16, the King James Version "endow her to be his wife" the Revised Version (British and American) "pay a dowry for her" mahar, "purchase" "endow"); compare Deuteronomy 22:29; 2 Chronicles 2:12-13, the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) "endued" with understanding (from yadha`, "know"); and Luke 24:49, the King James Version "endued with power," the Revised Version (British and American) "clothed" (enduo, "clothe").
F. K. Farr
Ends of the Earth
Ends of the Earth - See ASTRONOMY, sec. III, 2.
Endure
Endure - en-dur': Used in the Bible (1) in the sense of "continue," "last," as in Psalms 9:7, "The Lord shall endure for ever" (the American Standard Revised Version "Yahweh sitteth as king forever"); Psalms 30:5, "Weeping may endure for a night" (the Revised Version (British and American) "tarry" margin "may come in to lodge at even"); John 6:27, "the meat which endureth," the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "the food which abideth"; (2) in the sense of "bear" (Hebrews 12:20): "bear up under," hardship, persecution, etc. (2 Timothy 3:11; 1 Peter 2:19); "to remain under" (Hebrews 10:32; 12:2; James 1:12; 5:11); "to be strong, firm" (Hebrews 11:27); "to persevere" beneath a heavy burden (Matthew 10:22).
En-eglaim
En-eglaim - en-eg'-la-im, en-eg-la'-im (`en `eghlayim, "fountain of calves"?): In Ezekiel's vision of the waters it is one of the two points between which "fishers shall stand" (Ezekiel 47:10). The situation must be near the entrance of the Jordan into the Dead Sea (see EN-GEDI). Tristram (Bible Places, 93) identifies it with `Ain Hajlah (compare BETH-HOGLAH); Robinson (BRP ,II , 489), with `Ain Feshkah.
Enemessar
Enemessar - en-e-mes'-ar (Enemessar, Enemessaros): Generally allowed, since Grotius, to be a corruption, though occasionally defended as an alternative form, of Shalmaneser (Tobit 1:2, 15, etc.) who carried Israel captive to Nineveh, as related in 2 Ki. Among the captives was Tobit, taken from Thisbe in Gilead, where the prophet Elijah was born and for a time lived. The writer of Tobit makes Sennacherib the son (1 15), as well as the successor of Enemessar, whereas, according to the Assyrian inscriptions, Sennacherib was the son of Sargon. This is only one of several serious historical difficulties in the narrative of Tobit. The corruption of the name is variously explained. Rawlinson supposes the first syllable of the word "Shal" to have been dropped, comparing the Bupalussor of Abydenus for Nabopolassar. Dr. Pinches takes Enemessar for Senemessar, the "sh" being changed to "s" and then to the smooth breathing, though the rough breathing more commonly takes the place of a dropped "s"; both scholars admit the easy transposition of the liquids "m" and "n". Shalman-asharid is the Assyrian form of Shalmaneser.
J. Hutchison
Enemy
Enemy - en'-e-mi ('oyebh, tsar, tsar; echthros): "Enemy," "enemies," are frequent words in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word most often so translated is 'oyebh, meaning perhaps literally, "one who hates"; very frequent in the Psalms, e.g. 3:7; 6:10; 7:5; 8:2; 9:3,1; 13:2, where the cry is often for deliverance from enemies. Another word for "enemy," found chiefly in the poetical books, is tsar, or tsar, "distresser," "straitener" (Numbers 10:9; Job 16:9; Psalms 27:2, 12, the Revised Version (British and American) "adversary," etc.); also tsarar (Esther 3:10; Psalms 8:2; 10:5 the King James Version, etc.). Other words are `ar, "one awake" (1 Samuel 28:16 the King James Version; Daniel 4:19 the King James Version); sane', perhaps, "to be sharp or bite" (Exodus 1:10; Proverbs 25:21; 27:6); sharar, "to watch" (Psalms 5:8; 27:11), and qum, "to stand up," or "withstand" (Exodus 32:25).
In the New Testament echthros, "enemy," "opponent," is the only word translated "enemy" (Matthew 5:43, 14; Mark 12:36; Luke 1:71, 74, etc.; Romans 5:10; 11:28, etc.), once with anthropos ("a man"), joined to echthros (Matthew 13:28).
In the Revised Version (British and American) "adversary" is frequently substituted for "enemy" (Numbers 24:8; Deuteronomy 32:41; Psalms 6:7; 7:6; 44:10, etc.); for "O thou enemy," etc. (Psalms 9:6) we have "The enemy are come to an end"; instead of "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him" (Isaiah 59:19) we have "For he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Yahweh driveth" (with the text of the King James Version in margins); for "The fire of thine enemies shall devour them" (Isaiah 26:11), "Fire shall devour thine adversaries" (text of the King James Version in the margin).
The frequent reference to enemies in the Old Testament is what we should expect to see in these early times on the part of a people settling in a land that had been occupied by other tribes, worshipping other gods. The spirit of their law was that expressed by our Lord in His Sermon on the Mount, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy." This He changed: "but I say unto you, Love your enemies." An approach toward this spirit had been made in the later prophets by their inclusion of the whole world under one God, who had a gracious purpose toward all, but the near statement of it we only find in Proverbs 25:21 (quoted by Paul, Romans 12:20). See also Exodus 23:4, and compare 2 Kings 6:22; 2 Chronicles 28:15.
W. L. Walker
Eneneus
Eneneus - e-ne'-ne-us, en-e-ne-us (Enenios; the King James Version Enenius, the Revised Version, margin "Enenis"): Occurring only in Apocrypha. According to 1 Esdras 5:8, Eneneus was one of the 12 leaders over the returning exiles from Babylon under Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:1-70 contains the parallel list of the returning leaders but omits Eneneus, giving only 11; but Eneneus corresponds to Nahamani (Nehemiah 7:7).
Enflame
Enflame - See INFLAME.
En-gaddi
En-gaddi - en-gad'-i (Sirach 24:14 the Revised Version (British and American), "on the sea shore").
See EN-GEDI.
Engage
Engage - en-gaj': From `arabh, "to pledge," Jeremiah 30:21, the King James Version "Who is this that engaged his heart?"; the Revised Version (British and American) "he that hath had boldness?"; the Revised Version, margin Hebrew "hath been surety for his heart?"
En-gannim
En-gannim - en-gan'-im (`en gannim, "spring of gardens"):
(1) A town in the territory of Judah, named with Zanoah and Eshtaol (Joshua 15:34). It is probably identical with the modern Umm Jina, South of Wady ec-Carar, not far from Zanoah (Zanu`a).
(2) A town in the lot of Isaachat (Joshua 19:21), assigned to the Gershonite Levites (21:29). In 1 Chronicles 6:73 it is replaced by Anem. It probably corresponds to the Ginnea of Josephus (Ant., XX, vi, 1; BJ, III, iii, 4), and may certainly be identified with the modern Jenin, a prosperous village on the southern edge of the plain of Esdraelon, with beautiful gardens, fruitful orchards and plentiful supplies of water from the local springs.
W. Ewing
En-gedi
En-gedi - en'-ge-di, en-ge'-di (`en gedhi, "fountain of the kid"): Identical with the present Ain Jidi. According to 2 Chronicles 20:2 it is the same as Hazazon-tamar, mentioned in Genesis 14:7 as occupied by the Amorites and as having been attacked by Chedorlaomer after leaving Kadesh and El Paran on his way to the Vale of Siddim. The place is situated upon the West shore of the Dead Sea about midway between the North and the South ends, and was included in the territory of Judah (Joshua 15:62). The spot is rendered attractive by the verdure clothing it by reason of immense fountains of warm water, 80 degrees F., which pour out from beneath the limestone cliffs. In the time of Solomon (Song of Solomon 1:14) palms and vines were cultivated here. Josephus also mentions its beautiful palm groves. In the time of Eusebius it was still a place of importance, but since the Middle Ages it has been almost deserted, being occupied now only by a few Arabs. The oasis occupies a small area a few hundred feet above the Dead Sea marked by the 650 ft. sedimentary terrace heretofore described (see DEAD SEA). The limestone borders rise so abruptly to a height of 2,000 ft. immediately on the West, that the place can be approached only by a rock-cut path. Two streams, Wady Sugeir and Wady el-Areyeh, descend on either side through precipitous rocky gorges from the uninhabitable wilderness separating it from Bethlehem and Hebron. It was in the caves opening out from the sides of these gorges that David took refuge from Saul (1 Samuel 24:1). During the reign of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:2), the children of Ammon, Moab and Mt. Seir attempted to invade Judah by way of En-gedi, but were easily defeated as they came up from the gorges to occupy the advantageous field of battle chosen by Jehoshaphat.
George Frederick Wright
Engine
Engine - en'-jin (2 Chronicles 26:15; Ezekiel 26:9; 1 Maccabees 6:51; 13:43 f).
See SIEGE.
English Versions
English Versions - in'-glish vur'-shunz:
1. Introductory
2. The Bible in Anglo-Saxon and Norman Times
3. John Wycliffe
4. How Far Was the 14th-Century Version Wycliffe's Work?
5. From Wycliffe to Tyndale
6. William Tyndale
7. Miles Coverdale
8. Matthew's Bible
9. Richard Taverner
10. The Great Bible (Cranmer's Bible)
11. Reaction, 1541-57
12. Edward VI
13. Mary
14. The Geneva Bible (the "Breeches Bible")
15. The Bishops' Bible
16. Rheims and Douai Version
17. The Authorized Version
18. The Apocrypha
19. Further Revisions
20. English Revised Version
21. American Revised Version
22. Has the Revised Version (British and American) Displaced the King James Version?
LITERATURE
English Versions of the Scriptures.
1. Introductory: The battle for vernacular Scripture, the right of a nation to have the sacred writings in its own tongue, was fought and won in England. Ancient VSS, such as the Syriac and the Gothic, were produced to meet obvious requirements of the teacher or the missionary, and met with no opposition from any quarter. The same was the case with the efforts of the Anglo-Saxon church to provide portions of Scripture for the use of the people. Even in later times the Latin church seems to have followed no consistent policy in permitting or forbidding the translation of the Scriptures. In one country the practice was forbidden, in another it was regarded with forbearance or permitted under authority (Addis and Arnold, Catholic Dictionary, London, 1884, article "Bible"); and so it came about that the different nations of Europe came by the inestimable boon of an open Bible in different ways. Germany, for example, after the attempts of numerous translators who seem to have been quite untrammeled in their work owed, under Providence, to the faith, the intrepidity and the genius of Luther the national version which satisfied it for more than three centuries, and, after a recent and essentially conservative revision, satisfies it still. In England, as related below, things took a different course. In the Reformation period the struggle turned mainly on the question of the translation of the Bible.
2. The Bible in Anglo-Saxon and Norman Times: The clergy and learned men had always of course access to the Scriptures in the Vulgate, a translation of the original Scriptures into Latin completed by Jerome at the very beginning of the 5th century; and from this version--the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.)--practically all further translations were made till the days of Luther. Within a century or little more after the landing of Augustine in England and his settlement at Canterbury (597 AD) Caedmon, a monk of Whitby, produced (670) his metrical version of the Bible, hardly indeed to be reckoned a version of the Scriptures in the ordinary sense, though it paved the way for such. Bede of Jarrow (672-735) translated the Creed and the Lord's Prayer and, according to the beautiful letter of his pupil, Cuthbert, breathed his last on the completion of his translation of the Gospel of John into the language of the people. Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne in the county of Dorset (died 709), translated the Psalter in another translation with which the name of King Alfred is associated; and the other efforts of that ruler to spread the knowledge of the Scriptures among his people are well known. Notice, too, should be taken of the glosses. "The gloss," says Eadie (English Bible, I, 14, note), "was neither a free nor yet a literal translation, but the interlinear insertion of the vernacular, word against word of the original, so that the order of the former was really irrespective of idiom and usage." The finest example of these is seen in the Lindisfarne Gospels, which were written in Latin about the year 700, and provided with an interlinear translation about 950 by Aldred, the priest. These with a version of a considerable section of the Old Testament by Aelfric, archbishop of Canterbury about the year 990, comprise the main efforts at Bible translation into English before the Norman Conquest. In Anglo-Saxon there is no proof of the existence of any translation of the complete Bible, or even of the complete New Testament. The sectional VSS, moreover, cannot be shown to have had any influence upon succeeding versions. For nearly three centuries after the Conquest the inter-relations of the different sections of the people and the conditions of the language prevented any real literary progress. The period, however, was marked by the appearance of fragmentary translations of Scripture into Norman French. From some Augustinian monastery, too, in the north of the East Midland district of England, about the year 1200, appeared the Ormulum, a curious metrical work of some 20,000 lines, consisting of a paraphrase of the Gospel of the day and an explanatory homily for 32 days of the year. Like the work of Caedmon the monk, it was not exactly Bible translation, but it doubtless prepared the way for such. Three versions of the Psalter, naturally always a favorite portion of Scripture with the translator, are assigned to the first half of Wycliffe's century. The reformer himself in one of his tracts urges a translation of the Bible to suit the humbler classes of society, on the plea that the upper classes already have their version in French. It was only in the long and splendid reign of Edward III (1327-77), when the two races that had existed in the country since the Conquest were perfectly united, that the predominance of English asserted itself, and the growth of the power and of the mental activity of the people instinctively demanded a new form of expression. The century of Wycliffe, it is to be remembered, was also that of Langland, Gower and Chaucer.
3. John Wycliffe: Born in Yorkshire about the year 1320, Wycliffe was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, of which he soon became a Fellow and was for a short time Master, resigning the latter position in the year 1361 on his presentation to a living in Lincolnshire. He died at Lutterworth in Leicestcrshire in 1384. It was during the last quarter of his life that he came forward as a friend of the people and as a prolific writer on their behalf. Notwithstanding the external glory of the reign of Edward III, there was much in the ecclesiastical and social circumstances of the time to justify popular discontent. The Pope derived from England alone a revenue larger than that of any prince in Christendom. The nobles resented the extortion and pretensions of the higher clergy; and, according to Green, "the enthusiasm of the Friars, who in the preceding century had preached in praise of poverty, had utterly died away and left a crowd of impudent mendicants behind it." The Black Death, "the most terrible plague the world ever witnessed," fell in the middle of the century and did much further to embitter the already bitter condition of the poor. In France things were no better than in England, and the Turk had settled permanently in Europe. It is not wonderful that Wycliffe began, as is said, his version of the New Testament with the Book of Revelation. With his social teaching the present article is not specially concerned. It probably involved no more than the inculcation of the inherently democratic and leveling doctrines of Christianity, though some of the Lollards, like the Munster peasants in the German Reformation, associated it with dangerous socialistic practice. In any case the application of Christianity to the solution of social problems is not in any age easy to effect in practice. His tracts show (Eadie, I, 59 ff) that it was from what Wycliffe had felt the Bible to be to himself that there sprang his strong desire to make the reading of it possible for his countrymen. To this was due the first English version of the Bible. To this also was likewise due the institution of the order of "poor priests" to spread the knowledge of the Bible as widely as possible throughout the country.
4. How Far Was the 14th-Century Version Wycliffe's Work?:
There is some uncertainty as to the exact share which Wycliffe had in the production of the 14th century version. The translation of the New Testament was finished about the year 1380 and in 1382 the translation of the entire Bible was completed, the greater part of the Old Testament being the work of Nicholas Hereford, one of the reformer's most ardent supporters at Oxford. The work was revised on thoroughly sound principles of criticism and interpretation, as these are explained in the prologue to the new edition, by John Purvey, one of Wycliffe's most intimate friends during the latter part of his life, and finished in 1388. "Other scholars," says Mr. F. G. Kenyon, of the British Museum, "assisted him in his work, and we have no certain means of knowing how much of the translation was actually done by himself. The New Testament is attributed to him, but we cannot say with certainty that it was entirely his own work" (Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, 200, 3rd edition, London, 1898). This entirely corresponds with the position taken up by Forshall and Madden, the editors of the great Oxford edition of Wycliffe's version issued in 4 large quarto volumes in 1850. That work was undertaken to honor Wycliffe and in some measure to repay England's indebtedness to the reformer. The editors were men of the first literary rank; they spent 22 years upon this work; and it is recognized as a credit at once to the scholarship and research of Oxford and of England. Its honest and straightforward Introduction answers by anticipation by far the greater part of the criticisms and claims put forth by Dr. Gasquet (Our Old English Bible and Other Essays, London, 1898; 2nd edition, 1908). The claim is made that the work published in Oxford in 1850 is really not Wycliffe's at all but that of his bitterest opponents, the bishops of the English church who represented the party of Rome. Gasquet's work on this subject is mainly worthy of notice on account of his meritorious research in other departments of the English Reformation. His arguments and statements are met by Kenyon (op. cit., 204-8). The controversy is further noticed in The Age of Wycliffe, by G. M. Trevelyan (2nd edition, London, 1908), a work which cannot be too highly praised for its deep research, its interesting exposition and its cordial appreciation of the reformer and his works. "Nothing," says Trevelyan (Appendix, 361), "can be more damning than the licenses to particular people to have English Bibles, for they distinctly show that without such licenses it was thought wrong to have them." The age of printing, it is to be remembered, was not yet.
The Wycliffe Bible was issued and circulated in copies each of which was written by the hand. About 170 copies of this manuscript Bible are still in existence. They form a striking proof of what England and the world owe to the faith, the courage and the labor of John Wycliffe and his "poor priests."
5. From Wycliffe to Tyndale: It is a remarkable fact that before the year 1500 most of the countries of Europe had been supplied with a version of the Scriptures printed in the vernacular tongue, while England had nothing but the scattered copies of the Wycliffe manuscript version. Even Caxton, eager as was his search for works to translate and to print, while he supplied priests with service-books, preachers with sermons, and the clerk with the "Golden Legende," left the Scriptures severely alone. Nor was there a printed English version, even of the New Testament, for close on half a century after Caxton's death, a circumstance largely due to the energy of the Tudor dictatorship and the severity of the Arundelian Constitutions enacted by Convocation at Oxford in the year 1408:against Wycliffe and his work. These enactments forbade "upon pain of the greater excommunication the unauthorized translation of any text of the Scriptures into English or any other tongue by way of a book, pamphlet, treatise or the reading of such." Meanwhile the study of the new learning, including that of the original languages of Scripture, though generally resisted by the clergy, was greatly promoted by the invention of printing.
6. William Tyndale: Erasmus, perhaps the chief representative name of the new age in the domain of learning, was professor of Greek at Cambridge from 1509 to 1524, and in the 2nd year of his professorship William Tyndale, an Oxford student in the 26th year of his age, migrated to Cambridge to study Greek. Ten years later Tyndale returned to his native county--Gloucestershire--to take up a private tutorship and there formed the determination which became the one fixed aim of his life--to put an English translation, not of the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) but of the original Greek and Hebrew Scriptures, into the hands of his countrymen. "If God spared him life," he said, "ere many years he would cause a boy that driveth a plow to know more of the Scriptures than the Pope did." Erasmus at Cambridge had uttered a similar aspiration. "He boldly avows his wish for a Bible open and intelligible to all. .... `I long for the day when the husbandman shall sing to himself portions of the Scriptures as he follows the plow, when the weaver shall hum them to the time of his shuttle, when thetraveler shall while away with their stories the weariness of his journey'" (Green, History of the English People, 1st edition, 308). In 1522 Tyndale went to London to try to find a patron for his work in Tunstall, bishop of London, who had studied Greek with Latimer at Padua and was one of the most noted humanists of the day. To show himself capable for the work, Tyndale took with him to London a version of a speech of Isocrates. But the Bishop of London's service was full; and after spending a year with a friendly alderman in London, "at last," he says in the Preface to his Five Books of Moses, "I understood not only that there was no room in my Lord of London's palace to translate the New Testament, but also that there was no place to do it in all England." He left the country and never returned to it. He spent the remaining twelve years of his life in exile and for the most part in great hardship, sustained by steady labor and by the one hope of his life--the giving to his countrymen of a reliable version of the Holy Scriptures in their own tongue. He went first to Hamburg, and there, as it seems, issued in the year 1524 versions of Mt and Mk separately, with marginal notes. Next year he removed to Cologne, and arranged for the printing of the complete New Testament, the translation of which he accomplished alone, from the study of the Greek text of Erasmus in its original and revised editions and by a comparison of these with the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) and several European vernacular versions which, as already stated, had anticipated that of England. The story of the interruption by Cochlaeus of the actual work of printing, and of his warning the King and Wolsey of the impending invasion of England by Lutheranism, reads like a romance. His interference resulted in the prohibition by the city authorities of the printing of the work and in the sudden flight of Tyndale and his assistant, Joye, who sailed up the Rhine with the precious sheets already printed of their 3,000 quarto edition to Worms, the city of the famous Diet in which Luther four years before had borne his testimony before the Emperor. The place was now Lutheran, and here the work of printing could be carried out in security and at leisure. To baffle his enemies, as it seems, a small octavo edition was first printed without glosses; then the quarto edition was completed. The "pernicious literature" of both editions, without name of the translator, was shipped to England early in 1526; and by 1530 six editions of the New Testament in English (three surreptitiously) were distributed, numbering, it is computed, 15,000 copies. The unfavorable reception of Tyndale's work by the King and the church authorities may in some measure be accounted for by the excesses which at the moment were associated with the Reformation in Germany, and by the memories of Lollardism in connection with the work of Wycliffe. So vehement was the opposition at any rate to Tyndale's work, and so determined the zeal in buying up and burning the book, that of the six editions above mentioned there "remains of the first edition one fragment only; .... of the second one copy, wanting the title-page, and another very imperfect; and of the others, two or three copies which are not however satisfactorily identified" (Westcott, History of the English Bible, 45, London, 1868). Meanwhile Tyndale took to working on the Old Testament. Much discussion has taken place on the question whether he knew Hebrew (see Eadie, I, 209 ff). Tyndale's own distinct avowal is that it was from the Hebrew direct that such translation of the Old Testament as he accomplished was made. Very early in 1531 he published separately versions of Gen and Deuteronomy, and in the following year the whole of the Pentateuch in one volume, with a preface and marginal glosses. In 1534 appeared the Book of Jon, with a prologue; and in the same year a new version of the New Testament to counteract one made by Joye from the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) This has been described by Westcott (op. cit., 185) as "altogether Tyndale's noblest monument," mainly on account of its short and pregnant glosses. "Bengel himself is not more terse or pointed." A beautifully illuminated copy of this edition was struck off on vellum and presented to Queen Anne Boleyn; and an edition of his revised New Testament was printed in London--"The first volume of Holy Scripture printed in England"--in 1536, the year of the Queen's death. Tyndale had for some time lived at Antwerp, enjoying a "considerable yearly exhibition" from the English merchants there; but his enemies in England were numerous, powerful and watchful. In 1534 he was betrayed and arrested; and after an imprisonment of nearly a year and a half at the castle of Vilorde, about 18:miles from Brussels, he was strangled and then burned in 1536, the same year as that of the death of the Queen. The last days of the hero and martyr may have been cheered by the news of the printing of his revised edition of the New Testament in England.
7. Miles Coverdale: Miles Coverdale, who first gave England a complete and authorized version of the Bible, was a younger contemporary of Tyndale. Tyndale was a year younger than Luther, who was born in 1483, and Coverdale was four years younger than Tyndale. Born in the North Riding of Yorkshire, he found his way to Cambridge at the time when Erasmus was professor of Greek, and appears at an early date--how is not known--to have got into the good graces of Crumwell, the "malleus monachorum," factotum and secretary to Wolsey, and later on the King's principal abettor in his efforts to render the Church of England thoroughly national, if not to an equal extent Protestant. Adopting the liberal party in the church, he held Lutheran or evangelical views of religion, east off his monastic habit, and, as Bale says, gave himself up wholly to the preaching of the gospel. He is found in 1527 in intimate connection with More and Crumwell and probably from them he received encouragement to proceed with a translation of the Bible. In 1528 he was blamed before Tunstall, bishop of London, as having caused some to desert the mass, the confessional and the worship of images; and seeking safety, he left England for the Continent. He is said by Foxe to have met Tyndale at Hamburg in 1529, and to have given him some help in the translation of the Pentateuch. An uncertainty hangs over Coverdale's movements from 1529 to 1535, a period during which much was happening that could not fail to be powerfully changing opinion in England. The result of the Assembly held at Westminster by Warham in May, 1530, and of the Convocation held under his successor, Cranmer, in December, 1534, was that in the latter it was petitioned that "his Majesty would vouchsafe to decree that the sacred Scriptures should be translated into the English tongue by certain honest and learned men, named for that purpose by his Majesty, and should be delivered to the people according to their learning." Crumwell, meanwhile, who had a shrewd forecast of the trend of affairs, seems to have arranged with Coverdale for the printing of his translation. However this may be, by the year 1534 "he was ready, as he was desired, to set forth" (i.e. to print) his translation; and the work was finished in 1535. And thus, "as the harvest springs from the seed which germinates in darkness, so the entire English Bible, translated no one knows where, presented itself, unheralded and unanticipated, at once to national notice in 1535" (Eadie, I, 266). It is declared on the title-page to be "faithfully and truly translated out of Douche and Latyn into Englishe: MDXXXV." Coverdale's own statements about his work leave the impression that he was a conspicuously honest man. Unlike Tyndale who regarded himself as, in a way, a prophet, with his work as a necessity Divinely laid upon him, Coverdale describes that he had no particular desire to undertake the work--and how he wrought, as it were, in the language of these days, under a committee from whom he took his instructions and who "required-him to use the Douche (i.e. the German) and the Latyn." He claims further to have done the work entirely himself, and he certainly produced a new version of the Old Testament and a revised version of the New Testament. He used, he says, five sundry interpreters of the original languages. These interpreters were, in all probability, the Vulgate, Luther's version, the Zurich or Swiss-German Bible, the Latin version of Pagninus, and he certainly consulted Tyndale on the Pentateuch and the New Testament. He successfully studied musical effect in his sentences and many of the finest phrases in the King James Version are directly traced to Coverdale. His version of the Psalms is that which is retained and is still in daily use in the ritual of the Church of England. Two new editions of Coverdale's version were issued in 1537 "with the King's most gracious license," and after this the English Bible was allowed to circulate freely. Certain changes in the title-page, prefaces and other details are discussed in the works mentioned at the end of this article.
8. Matthew's Bible: Convocation meanwhile was not satisfied with Coverdale's translation, and Coverdale himself in his honest modesty had expressed the hope that an improved translation should follow his own. Accordingly in 1537--probably at the suggestion of, and with some support from, Crumwell and certainly to his satisfaction--a large folio Bible appeared, as edited and dedicated to the King, by Thomas Matthew. This name has, since the days of Foxe, been held to be a pseudonym for John Rogers, the protomartyr of the Marian persecution, a Cambridge graduate who had for some years lived in intimacy with Tyndale at Antwerp, and who became the possessor of his manuscript at his death. Besides the New Testament, Tyndale, as above mentioned, had published translations of the Pentateuch, the Book of Jonah, and portions of the Apocrypha, and had left a manuscript version of Joshua to 2 Chronicles. Rogers, apparently taking all he could find of the work of Tyndale, supplemented this by the work of Coverdale and issued the composite volume with the title, "The Bible, which is all the Holy Scriptures, in which are contayned the Olde and Newe Testaments, truely and purely translated into English by Thomas Matthew. Esaye I, Hearken to, ye heavens, and thou earth, geave eare: for the Lord speaketh. MDXXXVII." After the banning and burning of Tyndale's New Testament on its arrival in England 11 years before, it is not easy to account for the royal sanction with which the translation appeared. It was probably granted to the united efforts of Cranmer and Crumwell, aided perhaps by the King's desire to show action independent of the church. The royal sanction, it will be noted, was given in the same year in which it was given to Coverdale's second edition. That version became the basis of our present Bible. It was on Matthew's version that for 75 years thereafter all other versions were based.
9. Richard Taverner: Matthew's first edition of 1,500 copies was soon exhausted, and a new edition was issued with some revision by Richard Taverner, a cultivated young layman and lawyer who had in his early years been selected by Wolsey for his college at Oxford. He was imprisoned in its cellar for reading Tyndale's New Testament; but he was soon released for his singular musical accomplishments. He was an excellent Grecian, of good literary taste and of personal dignity. For the Old Testament curiously enough he made, good Grecian as he was, no use of the Septuagint; but throughout aimed successfully at idiomatic expression, as also at compression and vividness. Some of his changes are kept in the King James Version, such as "parables" for "similitudes" and in Matthew 24:12, "The love of the many shall wax cold," and others. He also does greater justice to the Greek article. His dedication to the king is manly and dignified and compares most favorably with the dedications of other translators, including that of the King James Version. The book appeared in two editions, folio and quarto, in 1539, and in the same year two editions, folio and quarto, of the New Testament. The Bible and the New Testament were each reprinted once, and his Old Testament was adopted in a Bible of 1551. But with these exceptions Taverner's version was practically outside of influence on later translations.
10. The Great Bible (Cranmer's Bible): The next Bible to appear was named from its size. Its pages are fully 15 inches long and over 9 inches broad. It was meant to be in a way a state edition, and is known as the Great Bible. As sufficiently good type, paper and other requisites could not be found in England, it was resolved that it should be printed in Paris. Coverdale and Grafton, the printer, went to Paris to superintend the printing; but the French church authorities interfered and the presses, types and workmen had to be transferred to London where the work was finished. It was the outcome of the Protestant zeal of Crumwell who wished to improve upon the merely composite volume of Tyndale and Coverdale. Its origin is not very accurately known, and authorities such as Hume, Burnet and Froude have ventured upon statements regarding it, for which there is really no proof (Eadie, I, 356 ff). The duty of editor or reviser was by Crumwell assigned to Coverdale who, as a pliant man and really interested in the improvement of the English version, was quite willing to undertake a work that might supersede his own. The rapidity with which the work was executed and the proofs of the minute care devoted to it by Coverdale may appear remarkable to those who are acquainted with the deliberate and leisurely methods of the large committee that produced the King James Version in the reign of King James or the Revised Version (British and American) in the reign of Queen Victoria. Of course Coverdale had been over all the work before and knew the points at which improvements were to be applied; and a zealous and expert individual can accomplish more than a committee. Luther translated the New Testament and, after revising his work with Melanchthon, had it printed and published in less than a year. The printing of the Great Bible began in May, 1538, and was completed in April, 1539, a handsome folio, printed in black letter, with the title, "The Byble in Englyshe, that is to say, the contents of all the holy scripture, bothe of the olde and newe testament, truly translated after the veryte of the Hebrue and Greke textes, by the dylygent studye of dyverse excellent learned men, expert in the forsayde tongues. Prynted by Rychard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch. Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum. 1539." The elaborate notes for which asterisks and various other marks are provided were never supplied; but the actual translation shows devoted attention to the work and much fine appreciation of the original languages and of English. In the New Testament the version derived assistance from the Latin version of Erasmus, and in the Old Testament from Munster and Pagninus. Variations in the text could of course be got from the Complutensian Polyglot. The Great Bible shows considerable improvement upon Tyndale in the New Testament, and upon Coverdale in the Old Testament. "So careful," says Eadie (I, 370), "had been Coverdale's revision and so little attachment had he to his own previous version, that in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah the Bible of 1539 differs in nearly forty places from his version of 1535." The clergy of course had no love for Crumwell and still less for his work, though to avert clerical prejudices, Coverdale had made concessions in his translation. The work was cordially welcomed by the people, and a copy was ordered to be printed for every parish church, the cost to be paid half by the parson and half by the parishioners. A further revision of this version was carried out by Coverdale for a second edition which appeared in April, 1540, and is known as Cranmer's Bible, mainly from the judicious and earnest preface which the archbishop wrote for it. "It exhibits a text formed on the same principles as that of 1539, but after a fuller and more thorough revision" (Westcott, 254). Two other editions followed in the same year and three more in the year following (1541).
11. Reaction, 1541-57: After the publication of the Great Bible (1539-41) no further advance took place for many years. The later years of Henry VIII indeed were marked by serious reaction. In 1542 Convocation with the royal consent made an attempt, fortunately thwarted by Cranmer, to Latinize the English version and to make it in reality what the Romish version of Rheims subsequently became. In the following year Parliament, which then practically meant the King and two or three members of the Privy Council, restricted the use of the English Bible to certain social classes that excluded nine-tenths of the population; and three years later it prohibited the use of everything but the Great Bible. It was probably at this time that there took place the great destruction of all previous work on the English Bible which has rendered examples of that work so scarce. Even Tunstall and Heath were anxious to escape from their responsibility in lending their names to the Great Bible. In the midst of this reaction Henry VIII died, January 28, 1547.
12. Edward VI: No new work marked the reign of Edward VI, but great activity prevailed in the printing of previous versions Thirty-five New Testaments and thirteen Bibles were published during his reign of six years and a half; and injunctions were issued urging every person to read "the very lively Word of God" and for a copy of the Great Bible with the English paraphrase of Erasmus to be set up in every church. By royal order a New Testament was to be sold for 22nd, a sum representing as many shillings of present value.
13. Mary: Less repressive work regarding the translation and diffusion of Scripture than might have been expected occurred in the reign of Mary, though in other directions the reaction was severe enough. According to Lord Burghley, during the three years and nine months of Mary's reign, the number of 400 persons perished--men, women, maidens and children--by imprisonment, torment, famine and fire. Among the martyrs were Cranmer and Rogers; Coverdale escaped martyrdom only by exile and the powerful intervention of the king of Denmark. The copies of the Bibles in the churches were of course burned; and--though individual translations were not specified--proclamations were issued against certain books and authors. Still the books were not, as formerly, bought up and confiscated; and so the activity of Edward's reign in the production of Bibles left copies widely distributed throughout the country at the close of Mary's reign. At this time a New Testament was printed at Geneva which had great influence upon future versions of the Bible.
14. The Geneva Bible (the "Breeches Bible"): This New Testament was issued in 1557 and was most probably the work of West Whittingham, an English exile who had married Calvin's sister. It was translated from the Greek and compared carefully with other versions It had also a marginal commentary which was more complete than anything similar that had yet appeared in England; and it was the first translation that was printed in roman letter and in which chapters were divided into verses. Calvin wrote for it an introductory epistle, and it had also an address by the reviser himself. A few months after its publication the more serious task of the revision of the whole Bible was begun and continued for the space of two years and more, the translators working at it "day and night." Who the translators were is not said; but Whittingham, probably with Gilby and Sampson, stayed at Geneva for a year and a half after Elizabeth came to the throne, and saw the work through. It was finished in 1560, and in a dignified preface was dedicated to Elizabeth. The cost was met by members of the Congregation at Geneva, among whom was John Bodley, father of the founder of the great library at Oxford. Its handy form--a modest quarto--along with its vigorously expressed commentary, made it popular even with people who objected to its source and the occasional Calvinistic tinge of its doctrines. It became and remained the popular edition for nearly three- quarters of a century. The causes of its popularity are explained in Westcott, 125 f. Bodley had received the patent for its publication; and upon his asking for an extension of the patent for twelve years, the request was generously granted by Archbishop Parker and Grindly, bishop of London, though the Bishops' Bible was already begun.
The "Breeches Bible."
The Geneva version is often called the "Breeches Bible" from its translation of Genesis 3:7: "They sewed figleaves together, and made themselves breeches." This translation, however, is not peculiar to the Genevan version. It is the translation of perizomata in both the Wycliffe VSS; it is also found in Caxton's version of the "Golden Legende."
15. The Bishops' Bible: Queen Elizabeth, the beginning of whose reign was beset with great difficulties, restored the arrangements of Edward VI. A copy of the Great Bible was required to be provided in every church, and every encouragement was given to the reading of the Scriptures. The defects of the Great Bible were admitted, and were the not unnatural result of the haste with which--notwithstanding its two revisions--it had been produced. These became more apparent when set beside the Geneva version, which, however, the archbishop and clergy could hardly be expected to receive with enthusiasm, as they had had nothing to do with its origin and had no control over its renderings and marginal notes. Archbishop Parker, moreover, who had an inclination to Biblical studies, had at the same time a passion for uniformity; and probably to this combination of circumstances may be traced the origin of the Bishops' Bible. Parker superintended the work, which was begun in 1563-64; he was aided by eight bishops--from whom the version received its name--and other scholars. It appeared in a magnificent volume in 1568, without a word of flattery, but with a preface in which the revisers express a lofty consciousness of the importance of their work. It was published in 1568: cum privilegio regiae Majestatis. A revised and in many places corrected edition was issued in 1572, and another in 1575, the year of the archbishop's death. The general aim of the version is a quaint literality, but along with this is found the use of not a few explanatory words and phrases not found in the original text. More exact notice also than in previous versions is taken of the use of the Greek article and of the particles and conjunctions. It bears marks, however, of the hand of the individual translators by whom the work was done; and of the want of the revision of each translator's work by the rest, and of some general revision of the whole. The Genevan version was the work of collegiate labor, to which much of its superiority is due. Though Parker did not object to the circulation of the Genevan version, Convocation after his death made some unsuccessful attempts to popularize the Bishops' Bible; but the Genevan translation was not easily thrust aside. "It grew," says Eadie (II, 35), "to be in greater demand than the Bishops' or Cranmer's. Ninety editions of it were published in the reign of Elizabeth, as against forty of all the other versions Of Bibles, as distinct from New Testaments, there were twenty-five editions of Cranmer's and the Bishops', but sixty of the Genevan."
16. Rheims and Douai Version: The production of an official version of the sacred Scriptures for English Roman Catholics was probably due more to rivalry with the Reformers than to any great zeal of the authorities of the Roman church for the spread of vernacular Scripture; though, according to the Arundelian Constitution above mentioned, it was only to the printing and reading of unauthorized translations that objection was then taken by the Roman authorities. But if there was to be a special version for Catholics, it was clearly reasonable that the work should be done by Catholics and accompanied by Catholic explanations. This was undertaken by some English Catholic scholars who, on the success of the Reformation in England, had left the country and settled at Douai in the Northeast of France, with a short transference of their seminary to Rheims. The version was probably produced under the influence of (Cardinal) Allen and an Oxford scholar, Gregory Martin. It was made from the Vulgate, the Bible of Jerome and Augustine, and not, like the Protestant VSS, from the Hebrew and Greek originals. The New Testament was issued from Rheims in 1582 and the Old Testament from Douai in 1609. The main objection to the version is the too close adherence of the translators to the words of the original and the too great Latinizing of the English, so that their translation "needs," as Fuller said, "to be translated." Still they have a few words which along with a few Latinisms were adopted by the translators of the King James Version, such as "upbraideth not," "bridleth his tongue," at his own charges, and others; and they have the special merit of preserving uniformity of rendering. The translation met with no great success and the circulation was not large.
17. The Authorized Version: The King James Version owed its origin to a chance remark regarding mistranslations in the existing versions made at the Hampton Court Conference, a meeting of bishops and Puritan clergy held (1604) in the interest of religious toleration before James was actually crowned. The meeting was ineffectual in all points raised by the Puritans, but it led to the production of the English Bible. Dr. Reynolds, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, probably with some reference to the rivalry between the Bishops' Bible and the Genevan version, remarked on the imperfections of the current Bibles. The remark was not very enthusiastically received except by the King, who caught eagerly at the suggestion of a fresh version, "professing that he could never yet see a Bible well translated in English," and blaming specially the Genevan version, probably on account of the pointed character of its marginal notes. Probably with the aid of the universities, the King without delay nominated the revisers to the number of fifty-four from among the best Hebrew and Greek scholars of the day. Only 47 actually took part in the work which, however--officially at least--they were in no hurry to begin; for, although named in 1604 and with all the preliminaries arranged before the end of that year, they did not begin their work till 1607. Their remuneration was to be by church preferment, for which the archbishop was to take measures. The immediate expenses, the King suggested, should be supplied by the bishops and chapters who, however, did not respond. "King James' version never cost King James a farthing," says Eadie (II, 153 f), who here gives some interesting information on this aspect of the revision. They wrought in six companies of which two met respectively in Westminster, Cambridge and Oxford. Elaborate rules, given in full in most histories of the Bible, were laid down for the revisers' guidance, the King being particularly insistent upon Rule 9, which provided for the revision of the work of each Company by the rest. When any Company had finished the revision of a book, it was to be sent to all the rest for their criticism and suggestions, ultimate differences of opinion to be settled at a general meeting of each Company. Learned men outside the board of revisers were to be invited to give their opinions in cases of special difficulty.
18. The Apocrypha: One of the Cambridge Companies was specially appointed to revise the Apocrypha, in which considerable license was taken, as the seven members composing the Company had probably no very firm belief in the inspiration of its books. The marginal notes, too, are freer in character than those of the Old Testament. By the early translators, Tyndale and Coverdale, the Apocrypha was simply accepted as part of the heritage of the church; it had a place likewise in the Great Bible, the Bishops' Bible and most even of the Gentvan copies. But by the middle of the 17th century opinion even in the Church of England had changed regarding it, and it was about this time that Bibles began to be printed having the canonical books only. The Apocrypha is now hardly at all printed otherwise than separately (note also should be taken of the treatment of the Apocrypha in the Revised Version (British and American), as stated below).
Impressed with the importance of their task, the revisers worked strenuously at it for two years; and nine months more were devoted to revision by a special committee consisting of two members from each center, and in 1611 the result of the work appeared. It is not wonderful that the work was described by a contemporary entitled to give a judgment on it (Selden, Table Talk) as "the best translation in the world"--a verdict that later opinion has abundantly ratified. It was the copestone of a work on which 90 years of solid labor had by different hands been expended, and it was done by half a hundred of the foremost scholars of the day who knew Hebrew and Greek, and who also knew English For three centuries it has grown in popular esteem, and it is justly regarded as one of the best possessions and one of the most unifying influences of the widely scattered English-speaking race.
On the title-page as issued in 1611 the version is described as "newly translated out of the original tongues" and as "appointed to be read in churches," two statements not easy to reconcile with the actual facts. The first rule for the revisers' guidance provided that the work was to consist in a revision of the Bishops' Bible: it was not said that it was to be a new translation. There is, further, no sanction of the version by King, Parliament, Convocation or Privy Council. Like Jerome's version twelve centuries before, it was left to find acceptance as best it might by its own intrinsic merit.
19. Further Revisions: Already in the days of the Commonwealth proposals were made for a new version; but though several meetings were held of a committee appointed by Parliament for the purpose in 1657, nothing came of the movement (Lewis, History of Translations, 354). For nearly half a century the chief rival of the King James Version was the Geneva Bible which was in wide private use. Formal revision was not undertaken again till the reign of Queen Victoria. But between 1611 and the date of the recent revision not a few small alterations had been silently introduced into the King James Version, as was indeed only to be expected if the changes in the orthography of the language were to be correctly represented on the printed page. Advancing literary criticism, too, and minute linguistic study showed that since the days of the revisers many words had changed their meaning, and that verbal inaccuracies and a few less venial errors could be proved in the revisers' work. But what probably weighed most with scholars in inducing them to enter upon a new version was the extraordinary increase that since the last revision had taken place in our knowledge of the Hebrew text and more especially of the Greek text of Scripture. Important manuscripts had been brought to light of which the 17th-century revisers knew nothing, and scholars had with minute care examined and compared all the early copies of the Scripture studies which, without altering the main import of the gospel story, were shown to have considerable importance on the actual words' and sometimes on the meaning of the text. After much discussion of the subject in special volumes and in the leading magazines and reviews of Britain and America, there was a general agreement among scholars that a fresh version was advisable.
20. English Revised Version: The history of the English revision is given at length in the preface to the English Revised Version of the New Testament. It originated with the Convocation of Canterbury of the Church of England in the year 1870, when a committee of 16 members was appointed with power to add to its numbers. By this committee invitations to join it were issued to the outstanding Hebrew and Greek scholars of the country, irrespective of religious denomination, and eventually two Companies were formed, one for the Old Testament and one for the New Testament, consisting each of 27 members, in which all the churches of the country were represented, the Roman Catholics alone excepted, and Dr. Newman had been invited to join the New Testament committee. The churches of America were also invited to cooperate, and this they did by forming two Companies corresponding to the British with due provision for the mutual comparison of results and suggestions. Where the suggestions from America were not accepted by the British revisers, they were recorded in an appendix to the published volume. The names of the revisers and the rules and principles laid down for the procedure of both Companies will be found in Eadie (II, 481 ff). The New Testament was published in May, 1881; the work occupied the Company for about 40 days in each year for 10 years. The Old Testament revision occupied the Company for 792 days in a period of 14 years. The entire Bible was published in May, 1885. It did not include the Apocrypha, a revision of which was issued separately in 1895.
21. American Revised Version: This was undertaken, not by Convocation, but by the University Presses, a special Company being formed for the purpose from the Old Testament and New Testament Companies. For AMERICAN REVISED VERSION see separate article. On REVISED VERSION see also BIBLE.
22. Has the Revised Version (British and American) Displaced the American Version?:
The Revised Version (British and American) has been before the English-speaking world for a quarter of a century and it can hardly be said with safety that it has as yet made any progress in displacing the King James Version in public esteem. Of course as much could be said for the King James Version in its day. It was very slow in gaining acceptance with the people: and yet unreasoning affection for its very words and phraseology is now one of the main obstacles to the acceptance of an admittedly more scientifically based original text and a more correct and not displeasing rendering of the same. A large number of the changes are certainly not such as appeal strongly to popular sympathy. "The Greek text of the New Testament of 1881 has been estimated to differ from that of 1611 in no less than 5,788: readings, of which about a quarter are held notably to modify the subject-matter; though even of these only a small proportion can be considered as of first-rate importance" (Kenyon, 239). On the other hand Hebrew, and especially the cognate Semitic languages, are now a great deal better known than before 1611, and considerable improvement is noticeable in the bringing out of the meaning in the poetical and prophetical books. The Revised Version (British and American) contains the best results of the scholarship of the Victorian age and cannot fail to be regarded as of the greatest utility to the reader and student of the King James Version. In the religious life the mind is essentially conservative, and nothing but time will show whether the undoubted merits of the Revised Version (British and American) are such as to outweigh the claims of sentiment and affection with which the King James Version is held.
See further AMERICAN REVISED VERSION.
LITERATURE.
Perhaps the most complete work on the subject in all its aspects is that by Dr. John Eadie, The English Bible: an External and Critical History of the Various English Translations of Scripture, 1876. Eadie was himself one of the revisers of 1870, and some of his concluding chapters contain "Remarks on the Need of Revision of the English New Testament." He is also highly appreciative but judiciously critical of his predecessors in the same field, e.g. of Lewis, Complete History of Several Translations of the Holy Bible and New Testament into English, 1731, 1818; and Christopher Anderson, The Annals of the English Bible, 2 volumes, 1845, 1 volume rev. edition, 1862. An earlier and also very good book is Westcott's General View of the History of the English Bible, 1868. Westcott was also one of the revisers of 1870 and criticizes the work of the various translators as well as narrates the succession of the translations. A good discussion of the internal history of the text will also be found in the History of the English Bible by Dr. Moulton, another of the revisers. Kenyon, Our Bible and Ancient manuscripts, 1895, considers specially the text on which the successive English versions were based. He writes judiciously also on the Wycliffe period and on the Revised Version (British and American). The Wycliffe period should also be studied in Forshall and Madden, 4 volumes, 4to, Oxford, 1850; England in the Age of Wycliffe, by G. M. Trevelyan; Dr. Gasquet's Our Old English Bible and Other Essays, 1908; and Lechler's John Wycliffe and His English Precursors, translated and edited by Lorimer. For the Reformation period generally Foxe's History of the Acts and Monuments of the Church still deserves to be studied. "Foxe's story is doubtless substantially true, although disfigured by credulity and bitter prejudice." For Tyndale's special work see William Tyndale, a Biography, by R. Demaus, new edition by Lovett, 1886; and Fry's Bibliographical Descriptions of the Editions of the New Testament, Tyndale's Version in English Fry has also written special works on the Great Bible, Cranmer's Bible and the Genevan Version. The King James Version is very fully described in the works above mentioned, and in this connection notice is due to Scrivener, The Authorised Edition of the English Bible, 1884, and more especially to his careful and thorough "Introduction" to the Quarto Paragraph Bible, 1873. More popular histories of the Bible are those of Stoughton, Pattison, 1874, and Professor Milligan of Glasgow, 1895. General histories of England and of English literature may also be profitably consulted on the history of the Bible and its translation into the vernacular, such as those of Hume, Burnet, Hallam, Froude, Green and Gardiner. The revision of the King James Version called forth a large literature, either in the way of preparation for it or of criticism of it when carried through. To this literature many of the revisers themselves contributed, among whom may be mentioned Eadie, Ellicott, Westcott, Humphry, Newth and Kennedy; nor should the important contributions of Archbishop Trench and Dean Alford, though of a slightly earlier generation, be overlooked. The American revisers also republished a series of Essays written by some of their number on Biblical Revision: Its Necessity and Purpose, 1879; and account should be taken also of the Documentary History of the American Committee on Revision prepared by that committee for the use of its members.
J. Hutchison
Engraft
Engraft - en-graft' (James 1:21 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) IMPLANT).
Engraving
Engraving - en-grav'-ing.
En-haddah
En-haddah - en-had'-a (`en chaddah, "swift fountain"): A town in the lot of Issachar mentioned along with En-gannim (Joshua 19:21). It is probably identical with Kefr Adan, a village some 3 miles West of Jenin.
En-hakkore
En-hakkore - en-hak'-o-re, en-hak-o'-re (`en ha-qore', "spring of the partridge"): Interpreted (Judges 15:19) as meaning "the spring of him that called." So the Septuagint: pege tou epikaloumenou. The spring was in Lehi but the site is unknown.
En-hazor
En-hazor - en-ha'-zor (`en chatsor; pege Asor: A city in the territory of Naphtali mentioned along with Kedesh, Edrei and Iron (Joshua 19:37). The ancient name probably survives in that of Hazireh, on the slopes West of Kedesh. "En" however points to a fountain. and no fountain has been found here.
Enigma
Enigma - e-nig'-ma.
See GAMES.
Enjoin
Enjoin - en-join': Its usual sense is "to impose something," as a command, a charge or a direction. In this last sense it is used in Job 36:23, i.e. "Who hath directed?" In Esther 9:31 it means "to command"; in Philemon 1:8, "to order" or "direct."
Enlarge; Enlargement
Enlarge; Enlargement - en-larj', en-larj'-ment: "To enlarge" is very frequently used figuratively: "God enlarge Japheth" (Genesis 9:27), i.e. "make him a great nation"; or "Thou hast enlarged my steps under me" (2 Samuel 22:37), i.e. "Thou hast given me success." A very peculiar use of "enlarge" is found in the King James Version Psalms 4:1: "Thou hast enlarged me" (the Revised Version (British and American) "set me at large"), i.e. "Thou hast given me freedom, deliverance from distress." "Our heart is enlarged" (platuno; 2 Corinthians 6:11), and "Be ye also enlarged" (2 Corinthians 6:13), express great love of one party to another. See also 1 Samuel 2:1, "My mouth is enlarged," i.e. "full of praise." Ezekiel 41:7, "were broader" (the King James Version "an enlarging").
Enlargement, the King James Version, Esther 4:14 from rawach, "to enlarge," "to respite," is rendered "relief" by the Revised Version (British and American) in better harmony with "deliverance" with which the word is paired.
A. L. Breslich
Enlighten
Enlighten - en-lit'-'-n:
(1) 'or, "illumination" in every sense, used in the ordinary sense of giving natural light (Psalms 97:4 the King James Version; see also Ezra 9:8) or as a sign of health and vigor (1 Samuel 14:27, 29). "His eyes were enlightened," literally, "became bright." He had become weary and faint with the day's exertions and anxieties, and now recovers (see Job 33:30 and compare Psalms 13:3). Thus in sickness and grief, the eyes are dull and heavy; dying eyes are glazed; but health and joy render them bright and sparkling, as with a light from within.
(2) In Psalms 18:28 the King James Version, The word naghah, figuratively describes the believer's deliverance from the gloom of adversity and the restoration of joy in the knowledge of God.
(3) Most frequently the terms so translated mean the giving of spiritual light to the soul (Psalms 19:8; Ephesians 1:18, photizo; Hebrews 6:4; 10:32). This spiritual enlightening the Spirit of God brings about through the Divine word (Psalms 119:130; 2 Timothy 3:15; 2 Peter 1:19). Sin mars the intellectual discernment; "but he that is spiritual discerneth all things" (1 Corinthians 2:15 King James Version, margin).
M. O. Evans
En-mishpat
En-mishpat - en-mish'-pat.
See KADESH.
Enmity
Enmity - en'-mi-ti ('ebhah; echthra): "Enmity" (hate) occurs as the translation of 'ebhah in Genesis 3:15, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed," and in Numbers 35:21-22, where the absence of enmity on the part of the man-slayer modifies the judgment to be passed on him.
In the New Testament "enmity" is the translation of echthra: Luke 23:12; Romans 8:7, "The mind of the flesh is enmity against God." James 4:4, "The friendship of the world is enmity with God" (because "the world" is preferred to God); in Ephesians 2:15-16, Christ is said to have "abolished in his flesh the enmity," by His cross to have "slain the enmity," that is, the opposition between Jew and Gentile, creating in Himself "one new man, (so) making peace."
W. L. Walker
Ennatan
Ennatan - en'-a-tan (Ennatan; the King James Version Eunatan (a misprint)): One of Ezra's messengers to fetch Levites for the temple service (1 Esdras 8:44); called "Elnathan" in Ezra 8:16.
Enoch
Enoch - e'-nok (chanokh, "initiated"; Henoch):
(1) The eldest son of Cain (Genesis 4:17-18).
(2) The son of Jared and father of Methuselah, seventh in descent from Adam in the line of Seth (Jude 1:14). He is said (Genesis 5:23) to have lived 365 years, but the brief record of his life is comprised in the words, "Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Genesis 5:24). The expression "walked with God" denotes a devout life, lived in close communion with God, while the reference to his end has always been understood, as by the writer of He, to mean, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him" (Hebrews 11:5).
See further, APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE, sec. II, i, 1.
A. C. Grant
Enoch (City)
Enoch (City) - In Genesis 4:17 it is narrated that Cain, who had taken up his abode in the land of Nod, East of Eden (verse 16), built there a city, and called it after the name of his firstborn son Enoch. It is impossible to fix more definitely the locality of this first of cities, recorded, as Delitzsch says (Genesis, in the place cited.), as registering an advance in civilization. The "city" would be a very simple affair, a place of protection for himself, wife and household, perhaps connected with the fear spoken of in 4:14.
Enoch, Book of
Enoch, Book of - see ENOCH, ETHIOPIC, BOOK OF; ENOCH,SLAVONIC , BOOK OF
Enoch, Ethiopic, Book of
Enoch, Ethiopic, Book of - e-thi-op'-ik.
Enoch, Slavonic, Book of
Enoch, Slavonic, Book of - sla-von'-ik.
Enoch; the Book of the Secrets of
Enoch; the Book of the Secrets of - See APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE.
Enormity
Enormity - e-nor'-mi-ti: The marginal rendering in the King James Version of Hosea 6:9 for "lewdness," and in the Revised Version (British and American) of Leviticus 18:17; 19:29; 20:14 for "wickedness." In each case it is the translation of zimmah, meaning originally, "thought" or "plot," mostly in a bad sense, lewdness, wickedness; in Lev it is unnatural wickedness--incest.
Enos; Enosh
Enos; Enosh - e'-nos, e'-nosh ('enosh, "mortal"; 'Enos): In the New Testament (the Revised Version (British and American) and the King James Version) and the Old Testament (the King James Version except 1 Chronicles 1:1), the form is Enos; in the Old Testament (the Revised Version (British and American) and 1 Chronicles 1:1 the King James Version), the form is Enosh. The son of Seth and grandson of Adam (Genesis 4:26; 5:6 ff; 1 Chronicles 1:1; Luke 3:38). Enosh denotes man as frail and mortal. With Enosh a new religious development began, for "then began men to call upon the name of Yahweh" (Genesis 4:26). There seems to be an implied contrast to Genesis 4:17 ff which records a development in another department of life, represented by Enoch the son of Cain.
S. F. Hunter
Enquire
Enquire - en-kwir': This is an Old English word now obsolescent. It is common in the King James Version. In the American Standard Revised Version it is nearly always replaced by the more modern "inquire," a few times by "seek" and "ask," once by "salute" (1 Chronicles 18:10). With this one exception in the Old Testament the change does not affect the meaning. In Acts 23:15, "enquire something more perfectly" is substituted by "judge more exactly." In Matthew 10:11, "search out" replaces it. In Matthew 2:7, 16, "learned exactly" replaces "inquired diligently."
See INQUIRE.
En-rimmon
En-rimmon - en-rim'-on (`en-rimmon, "the fountain of Rimmon" (see RIMMON), or perhaps "the spring of the pomegranate"; Eromoth, Rhemmon):A city of Judah (Joshua 15:32), "Ain and Rimmon"; ascribed to Simeon (Joshua 19:7; 1 Chronicles 4:32, "Ain, Rimmon"). In Nehemiah 11:29 mentioned as reinhabited after the Captivity. Zechariah 14:10, runs: "All the land shall be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem." It must have been a very southerly place. In the Eusebius, Onomasticon, ("Erimmon") it is described as a "very large village 16 miles South of Eleutheropolis." Kh. Umm er Rumamin, 9 miles North of Beersheba is the usually accepted site. See PEF , 398; ShXXIV .
E. W. G. Masterman
En-rogel
En-rogel - en-ro'-gel (`en roghel; pege Rhogel; meaning uncertain, but interpreted by some to mean "the spring of the fuller"):
No argument from this meaning can be valid because (1) it is a very doubtful rendering and (2) "fulling" vats are common in the neighborhood of most town springs and are today plentiful at both the proposed sites. G. A. Smith thinks "spring of the current," or "stream," from Syriac rogulo, more probable.
(1) En-rogel was an important landmark on the boundary between Judah and Benjamin (Joshua 15:7; 18:16). Here David's spies, Jonathan and Ahimaaz, hid themselves (2 Samuel 17:17), and here (1 Kings 1:9) "Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En-rogel," when he anticipated his father's death and caused himself rebelliously to be proclaimed king.
(2) The identification of this important landmark is of first-class importance in Jerusalem topography. Two sites have been proposed:
(a) The older view identifies En-rogel with the spring known variously as "the Virgin's Fount," `Ain sitti Miriam and `Ain Umm el deraj, an intermittent source of water which rises in a cave on the West side of the Kedron valley opposite Siloam (see GIHON). The arguments that this is the one Jerusalem spring and that this must have been a very important landmark are inconclusive. The strongest argument for this view is that put forward by M. Clermont-Ganneau, who found that a rough rock surface on the mountain slope opposite, an ascent to the village of Silwan, is known as es Zechweleh, a word in which there certainly appears to linger an echo of Zoheleth. The argument is, however, not as convincing as it seems. Firstly, Zoheleth was a stone; this is a natural rock scarp; such a stone might probably have been transferred from place to place. Secondly, it is quite common for a name to be transferred some miles; instances are numerous. Thirdly, the writer, after frequent inquiries of the fellahin of Silwan, is satisfied that the name is by no means confined to the rock scarp near the spring, but to the whole ridge running along from here to, or almost to, Bir Eyyub itself. The strongest argument against this identification is, however, that there are so much stronger reasons for identifying the "Virgin's Fount" with Gihon (see GIHON), and that the two springs En-rogel and Gihon cannot be at one site, as is clear from the narrative in 1 Kings 1:1-53.
(b) The view which places En-rogel at Bir Eyyub in every way harmonizes with the Bible data. It has been objected that the latter is not a spring but a well. It is today a well, 125 ft. deep, but one with an inexhaustible supply--there must be a true spring at the bottom. Probably one reason it only overflows today after periods of heavy rain is that such enormous quantities of debris have now covered the original valley bed that the water cannot rise to the surface; much of it flows away down the valley deep under the present surface. The water is brackish and is impregnated with sewage, which is not extraordinary when we remember that a large part of the rock strata from which the water comes is overlaid by land constantly irrigated with the city's sewage.
Although the well may itself be of considerable antiquity, there is no need to insist that this is the exact position of the original spring En-rogel. The source may in olden times have arisen at some spot in the valley bottom which is now deeply buried under the rubbish, perhaps under the southernmost of the irrigated gardens of the fellahin of Silwan. The neighborhood, at the junction of two deep valleys--not to count the small el wad, the ancient Tyropceon--is a natural place for a spring. There would appear to have been considerable disturbance here. An enormous amount of debris from various destructions of the city has collected here, but, besides this, Josephus records a tradition which appears to belong to this neighborhood. He says (Ant., IX, x, 4) that an earthquake took place once at Eroge--which appears to be En-rogel--when "half of the mountain broke off from the remainder on the West, and rolling 4 furlongs, came to stand on the eastern mountain till the roads, as well as the .king's gardens, were blocked." It is sufficient that En-rogel is to be located either at Bir Eyyub or in its immediate neighborhood; for practical purposes the former will do. En-rogel was an important point on the boundary line between Judah and Benjamin. The line passed down the lower end of the Kidron valley, past En-rogel (Bir Eyyub) and then up the Valley of Hinnom (Wady er Rababi)--a boundary well adapted to the natural conditions.
With regard to David's spies (2 Samuel 17:17), whereas the Virgin's Fount--the great source of the city's water supply (see GIHON)--just below the city walls (see ZION) was an impossible place of hiding, this lower source, out of sight of almost the whole city and removed a considerable distance from its nearest point, was at least a possible place. Further, the facts that it was off the main road, that it afforded a supply of one of the main necessities of life--water--and that there were, as there are today, many natural caves in the neighborhood, greatly added to its suitability.
Here too was a most appropriate place for Adonijah's plot (1 Kings 1:9). He and his confederates dared not go to Gihon, the original sacred spring, but had to content themselves with a spot more secluded, though doubtless still sacred. It is recorded (1 Kings 1:40-41) that the adherents of Solomon saluted him at Gihon (the Virgin's Fount) and the people "rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them. And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him (at En-rogel) heard it as they had made an end of eating." The relative positions of these two springs allow of a vivid reconstruction of the narrative as do no other proposed identifications. The two spots are out of sight the one of the other, but not so far that the shout of a multitude at the one could not be carried to the other.
E. W. G. Masterman
Enrolment
Enrolment - en-rol'-ment.
See QUIRINIUS; TAX.
Ensample
Ensample - en-sam'-p'-l.
See EXAMPLE.
En-shemesh
En-shemesh - en-she'-mesh (`en shemesh, "spring of the sun"): An important landmark on the boundary line between Judah and Benjamin (Joshua 15:7; 18:17). The little spring `Ain el chand, East of Bethany, the last spring on the road descending to Jericho, seems to suit the conditions. `Ain el chaud is usually called the "Apostles' Fountain" by Christians, on account of a tradition dating from the 15th century that the apostles drank there.
Ensign
Ensign - en'-sin.
See BANNER.
Ensue
Ensue - en-su': Synonymous with "to pursue," "ensue" is found in 1 Peter 3:11 the King James Version as a translation of dioko, "to follow after," "to pursue." Also in Judith 9:5, "such as ensued after" (ta metepeita, "the things that follow").
Entangle
Entangle - en-tan'-g'-l: Found but 5 times in the Scriptures (the King James Version), once in the Old Testament, yet most significant as illustrating the process of mental, moral and spiritual confusion and enslavement.
(1) Physical:
Used of physical entanglement, as in the mazes of a labyrinth (bukh, to involve," "be perplexed"). At Moses' command the children of Israel, before crossing the Red Sea, took the wrong way in order to give Pharaoh the impression that they were lost in the wilderness and cause him to say "They are entangled in the land" (Exodus 14:3).
(2) Mental:
pagideuo, "to entrap," "ensnare," with words, as birds are caught in a snare; compare Ecclesiastes 9:12. The Pharisees sought to "entangle" (the Revised Version (British and American) "ensnare") Jesus in His talk (Matthew 22:15).
(3) Moral:
`empleko, "to inweave," hence, intertwine and involve. "A god soldier of Jesus Christ," says Paul, does not "entangle himself," i.e. become involved, "in the affairs of this life" (2 Timothy 2:4). Having "escaped the defilements of the world," Christians are not to be "again entangled therein" (2 Peter 2:20).
(4) Spiritual:
enecho, "to hold in," hence, to hold captive, as a slave in fetters or under a burden. Having experienced spiritual emancipation, freedom, through Christ from bondage to sin and false religion (Galatians 5:1; compare Galatians 4:8), the Gentiles were not to become "entangled again in a yoke of bondage" by submission to mere legal requirements, as the external rite of circumcision.
With reference to the thoroughness and irresistibleness of God's judgments, we read in Nahum 1:10, "For entangled like thorns" (the King James Version "while they be folden together as thorns"), damp, closely packed and intertwined, "they are consumed utterly as dry stubble" (the King James Version "devoured as stubble fully dry").
Dwight M. Pratt
En-tappuah
En-tappuah - en-tap'-u-a, en-ta-pu'-a (`en tappuach; pege Thaphthoth, "apple spring"): Probably in the land of Tappuah which belonged to Manasseh, although Tappuah, on the border of Manasseh, belonged to Ephraim (Joshua 17:7 f). It lay on the border of Ephraim which ran southward East of Shechem, and is probably to be identified with the spring at Yasuf, about 3 miles North of Lebonah.
Entreat
Entreat - en-tret'.
See INTREAT.
Envy
Envy - en'-vi (qin'ah; zelos, phthonos): "Envy," from Latin in, "against," and video, "to look," "to look with ill-will," etc., toward another, is an evil strongly condemned in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is to be distinguished from jealousy. "We are jealous of our own; we are envious of another man's possessions. Jealousy fears to lose what it has; envy is pained at seeing another have" (Crabb's English Synonyms). In the Old Testament it is the translation of qin'ah from kana', "to redden," "to glow" (Job 5:2, the Revised Version (British and American) "jealousy," margin "indignation"; in Isaiah 26:11 the Revised Version (British and American) renders "see thy zeal for the people"; Proverbs 27:4, etc.); the verb occurs in Genesis 26:14, etc.; Numbers 11:29 the King James Version; Psalms 106:16; Proverbs 3:31, etc.; in the New Testament it is the translation of phthonos, "envy" (Matthew 27:18; Romans 1:29; Galatians 5:21, "envyings," etc.); of zelos, "zeal, "jealousy," "envy" (Acts 13:45), translated "envying," the Revised Version (British and American) "jealousy" (Romans 13:13; 1 Corinthians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 12:20; James 3:14, 16); the verb phthoneo occurs in Galatians 5:26; zeloo in Acts 7:9; 17:5, the Revised Version (British and American) "moved with jealousy"; 1 Corinthians 13:4, "charity (the Revised Version (British and American) "love") envieth not."
The power of envy is stated in Proverbs 27:4: "Who is able to stand before envy?" (the Revised Version (British and American) "jealousy"); its evil effects are depicted in Job 5:2 (the Revised Version (British and American) "jealousy"), in Proverbs 14:30 (the Revised Version, margin "jealousy"); it led to the crucifixion of Christ (Matthew 27:18; Mark 15:10); it is one of "the works of the flesh" (Galatians 5:21; compare Romans 1:29; 1 Timothy 6:4); Christian believers are earnestly warned against it (Romans 13:13 the King James Version; 1 Corinthians 3:3 the King James Version; Galatians 5:26; 1 Peter 2:1). In James 4:5 "envy" is used in a good sense, akin to the jealousy ascribed to God. Where the King James Version has "The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy," the Revised Version (British and American) reads "Doth the spirit which he made to dwell in us long unto envying?"; the American Revised Version, margin "The spirit which he made to dwell in us he yearneth for even unto jealous envy"; compare Jeremiah 3:14; Hosea 2:19 f; or the English Revised Version, margin "That spirit which he made to dwell in us yearneth (for us) even unto jealous envy." This last seems to give the sense; compare "Ye adulteresses" (Hosea 2:4), the American Revised Version, margin "That is, who break your marriage vow to God."
W. L. Walker
Epaenetus
Epaenetus - ep-e'-ne-tus (Epainetos, "praised"): One of the Christians at Rome to whom greetings are sent by Paul (Romans 16:5). All that is known of him is told here. Paul describes him as (1) "my beloved," (2) "who is the firstfruits of Asia unto Christ." Textus Receptus of the New Testament has "firstfruits of Achaia" but this wrong reading is due to 1 Corinthians 16:15. He was one of the first Christians in the Roman province of Asia.
This salutation brings up the question of the destination of Romans 16:3-16, for it is argued that they are addressed to the church in Ephesus owing to the fact that Prisca and Aquila and Epenetus are known to have dwelt in Asia. On the other hand, there are more than 20 others in this list who are not known to have spent any time in Asia. Prisca and Aquila had once dwelt in Rome (Acts 18:2), and there is nothing unusual in an Ephesian dwelling in the capital of the empire. An interesting discovery was made in Rome of an inscription in which was the name of Epenetus, an Ephesian.
S. F. Hunter
Epaphras
Epaphras - ep'-a-fras (Epaphras): A contracted form of Epaphroditus. He must not, however, be confounded with the messenger of the Philippian community. He was with Paul during a part of his 1st Roman imprisonment, joining in Paul's greetings to Philemon (Philemon 1:23). Epaphras was the missionary by whose instrumentality the Colossians had been converted to Christianity (Colossians 1:7), and probably the other churches of the Lycus had been founded by him. In sending his salutation to the Colossians Paul testified, "He hath much labor for you, and for them in Laodicea, and for them in Hierapolis" (Colossians 4:13). Epaphras had brought to Paul good news of the progress of the gospel, of their "faith in Christ Jesus" and of their love toward all the saints (Colossians 1:4). Paul's regard for him is shown by his designating him "our beloved fellow-servant," "a faithful minister of Christ" (Colossians 1:7), and "a bondservant of Christ Jesus" (Colossians 4:12 margin) . The last designation Paul uses several times of himself, but only once of another besides Epaphras (Philippians 1:1).
S. F. Hunter
Epaphroditus
Epaphroditus - e-paf-ro-di'-tus (Epaphroditos, "lovely"): Mentioned only in Philippians 2:25; 4:18. The name corresponds to the Latin Venustus (= handsome), and was very common in the Roman period. "The name occurs very frequently in inscriptions both Greek and Latin, whether at full length Epaphroditus, or in its contracted form Epaphras" (Lightfoot, Philippians, 123). Epaphroditus was the delegate of the Christian community at Philippi, sent with their gift to Paul during his first Roman imprisonment. Paul calls him "my brother and fellow-worker and fellow-soldier." "The three words are arranged in an ascending scale: common sympathy, common work, common danger and toil and suffering" (Lightfoot, l.c.). On his arrival at Rome, Epaphroditus devoted himself to "the work of Christ," both as Paul's attendant and as his assistant in missionary work. So assiduously did he labor that he lost his health, and "was sick nigh unto death." He recovered, however, and Paul sent him back to Philippi with this letter to quiet the alarm of his friends, who had heard of his serious illness. Paul besought for him that the church should receive him with joy and hold him in honor.
S. F. Hunter
Ephah (1)
Ephah (1) - e'-fa (`ephah, "darkness"; Gephar (Genesis 25:4), Gaipha (Isaiah 60:6): The name of three persons in the Old Testament, both masculine and feminine
(1) The son of Midian, descended from Abraham by his wife Keturah (Genesis 25:4 = 1 Chronicles 1:33), mentioned again in Isaiah 60:6 as a transporter of gold and frankincense from Sheba, who shall thus bring enlargement to Judah and praise to Yahweh. According to Fried. Delitzsch, Schrader, and Hommel, `Ephah is an abbreviation of `Ayappa, the Kha-yappa Arabs of the time of Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon. See treatment of this view in Dillmann's Commentary on Gen (Isaiah 25:4).
(2) A concubine of Caleb (1 Chronicles 2:46).
(3) The son of Jahdai, a descendant of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:47).
Charles B. Williams
Ephah (2)
Ephah (2) - e'-fa ('ephah): A dry measure of about one bushel capacity. It corresponds to the bath in liquid measure and was the standard for measuring grain and similar articles since it is classed with balances and weights (Leviticus 19:36; Amos 8:5) in the injunctions regarding just dealing in trade. In Zechariah 5:6-10 it is used for the utensil itself (see WEIGHTS AND MEASURES).
Ephai
Ephai - e'-fi, e'-fa-i (`ephay, in Qere, `ophai, in Kethibh; Iophe, Ophe, "gloomy," "obscuring," in the Septuagint, Septuagint): "The Netophathite," whose sons were numbered among "the captains of the forces" left in Judah after the carrying away to Babylon (Jeremiah 40:1-16 ([LXX 47) 8). His sons assembled at Mizpah with Gedaliah, governor of the scattered Jews, and with him were slain by Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah (Jet 41:3).
Epher
Epher - e'-fer (`epher, "calf," "young deer"; Apher, Opher:
(1) The second son of Midian, descended from Abraham by his wife Keturah (Genesis 25:4; 1 Chronicles 1:33). See further Dillmann's Commentary on Gen (1 Chronicles 25:4).
(2) The third son of Ezra, descended from the tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 4:17).
(3) The first of five heads of their fathers' houses, "mighty men of valor, famous men," in the halftribe of Manasseh, who dwelt between Bashan and Mt. Hermon (1 Chronicles 5:23, 14).
Ephes-dammim
Ephes-dammim - e-fes-dam'-im ('ephec dammim): Some spot between Socoh and Azekah (1 Samuel 17:1) where the Philistines were encamped; called in 1 Chronicles 11:13, "Pas-dammin." Ephes" end of" or "boundary" and the whole word may mean the "boundary of blood." The deep red color of the newly plowed earth in this situation is noticeable and may have given origin to the idea of "blood" (compare ADUMMIM). Cheyne suggests that from 'adhummin, to dammim, is an easy step, and that the former, meaning "red brown earth," may have been the original. No other satisfactory locality has been found to explain the name or fix the site.
E. W. G. Masterman
Ephesian; Ephesians
Ephesian; Ephesians - e-fe'-zhan (Ephesios), e-fe'-zhanz: A term which, as in Acts 19:28, 34-35 and Acts 21:29, was applied to those natives or residents of the city of Ephesus who were adherents of the cult of the goddess Diana. A Jew or a Christian, though a native of Ephesus, would probably have been designated as such, rather than as an Ephesian.
Ephesians, Epistle to The
Ephesians, Epistle to The - I. AUTHENTICITY
1. External Evidence
2. Internal Evidence
II. PLACE AND DATE OF WRITING
III. DESTINATION
1. Title
2. The Inscription
3. The Evidence of the Letter Itself
4. Conclusion
IV. RELATION TO OTHER NEW TESTAMENT WRITINGS
1. Peter
2. Johannine Writings
3. Colossians
V. THE PURPOSE
VI. ARGUMENT
VII. TEACHING
LITERATURE
I. Authenticity. 1. External Evidence: None of the epistles which are ascribed to Paul have a stronger chain of evidence to their early and continued use than that which we know as the Epistle to the Ephesians. Leaving for the moment the question of the relation of Eph to other New Testament writings, we find that it not only colors the phraseology of the Apostolic Fathers, but is actually quoted. In Clement of Rome (circa 95 AD) the connection with Ephesians might be due to some common liturgical form in xlvi.6 (compare Ephesians 4:6); though the resemblance is so close that we must feel that our epistle was known to Clement both here and in lxiv (compare Ephesians 1:3-4); xxxviii (compare Ephesians 5:21); xxxvi (compare Ephesians 4:18); lix (compare Ephesians 1:18; 4:18). Ignatius (died 115) shows numerous points of contact with Ephesians, especially in his Epistle to the Ephesians. In chap. xii we read: "Ye are associates and fellow students of the mysteries with Paul, who in every letter makes mention of you in Christ Jesus." It is difficult to decide the exact meaning of the phrase "every letter," but in spite of the opinion of many scholars that it must be rendered "in all his epistle," i.e. in every part of his epistle, it is safer to take it as an exaggeration, "in all his epistles," justified to some extent in the fact that besides Ephesians, Paul does mention the Ephesian Christians in Rom (16:5); 1 Cor (15:32; 16:8,19); 2 Cor (1:8 f); 1 Tim (1:3) and 2 Tim (1:18). In the opening address the connection with Ephesians 1:3-6 is too close to be accidental. There are echoes of our epistle in chap. i (Ephesians 6:1); ix (Ephesians 2:20-22); xviii (oikonomia, Ephesians 1:10); xx (Ephesians 2:18; 4:24); and in Ignat. ad Polyc. v we have close identity with Ephesians 5:25 and less certain connection with Ephesians 4:2, and in vi with Ephesians 6:13-17. The Epistle of Polycarp in two passages shows verbal agreement with Eph: in chap. i with Ephesians 1:8, and in xii with Ephesians 4:26, where we have (the Greek is missing here) ut his scripturis dictum est. Hermas speaks of the grief of the Holy Spirit in such a way as to suggest Ephesians (Mand. X, ii; compare Ephesians 4:30). Sim. IX, xiii, shows a knowledge of Ephesians 4:3-6, and possibly of Ephesians 5:26 and Ephesians 1:13. In the Didache (4) we find a parallel to Ephesians 6:5: "Servants submit yourselves to your masters." In Barnabas there are two or three turns of phrase that are possibly due to Ephesians. There is a slightly stronger connection between II Clement and Ephesians, especially in chap. xiv, where we have the Ephesian figure of the church as the body of Christ, and the relation between them referred to in terms of husband and wife.
This early evidence, slight though it is, is strengthened by the part Ephesians played in the 2nd century where, as we learn from Hippolytus, it was used by the Ophites and Basilides and Valentinus. The latter (according to Hip., Phil., VI, 29) quoted Ephesians 3:16-18, saying, "This is what has been written in Scripture," while his disciple Ptolemais is said by Irenaeus (Adv. Haer., i.8, 5) to have attributed Ephesians 5:13 to Paul by name. According to the addenda to the eighth book of the Stromateis of Clement of Alexandria, Theodotus, a contemporary of Valentinus, quoted Ephesians 4:10 and 30 with the words: "The apostle says," and attributes Ephesians 4:24 to Paul. Marcion knew Ephesians as Tertullian tells us, identifying it with the epistle referred to in Colossians 4:16 as ad Laodicenos. We find it in the Muratorian Fragment (10b, l. 20) as the second of the epistles which "Paul wrote following the example of his predecessor John." It is used in the letter from the church of Lyons and Vienne and by Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and later writers. We can well accept the dictum of Dr. Hort that it "is all but certain on this evidence that the Epistle was in existence by 95 AD; quite certain that it was in existence by about fifteen years later or conceivably a little more" (Hort, Judaistic Christianity, 118).
2. Internal Evidence: To this very strong chain of external evidence, reaching back to the very beginning of the 2nd century, if not into the end of the 1st, showing Ephesians as part of the original Pauline collection which no doubt Ignatius and Polycarp used, we must add the evidence of the epistle itself, testing it to see if there be any reason why the letter thus early attested should not be accredited to the apostle.
(1) That it claims to be written by Paul is seen not only in the greeting, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints that are at Ephesus," but also in Ephesians 3:1, where we read: "For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles," a phrase which is continued in Ephesians 4:1: "I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord." This claim is substantiated by the general character of the epistle which is written after the Pauline norm, with greeting and thanksgiving, leading on to and serving as the introduction of the special doctrinal teaching of the epistle. This is the first great division of the Pauline epistles and is regularly followed by an application of the teaching to practical matters, which in turn yields to personal greetings, or salutations, and the final benediction, commonly written by the apostle's own hand. In only one particular does Ephesians fail to answer completely to this outline. The absence of the personal greetings has always been marked as a striking peculiarity of our letter. The explanation of this peculiarity will meet us when we consider the destination of the epistle (see III below).
(2) Further evidence for the Pauline authorship is found in the general style and language of the letter. We may agree with von Soden (Early Christ. Lit., 294) that "every sentence contains verbal echoes of Pauline epistles, indeed except when ideas peculiar to the Epistle come to expression it is simply a mosaic of Pauline phraseology," without accepting his conclusion that Paul did not write it. We feel, as we read, that we have in our hands the work of one with whom the other epistles have made us familiar. Yet we are conscious none the less of certain subtle differences which give occasion for the various arguments that critics have brought against the claim that Paul is the actual author. This is not questioned until the beginning of the last century, but has been since Schleiermacher and his disciple Usteri, though the latter published his doubts before his master did his. The Tubingen scholars attacked the epistle mainly on the ground of supposed traces of Gnostic or Montanist influences, akin to those ascribed to the Colossians. Later writers have given over this claim to put forward others based on differences of style (De Wette, followed by Holtzmann, von Soden and others); dependence on Colossians (Hitzig, Holtzmann); the attitude to the Apostles (von Soden); doctrinal differences, especially those that concern Christology and the Parousia, the conception of the church (Klopper, Wrede and others). The tendency, however, seems to be backward toward a saner view of the questions involved; and most of those who do not accept the Pauline authorship would probably agree with Julicher (Encyclopedia Biblica), who ascribes it to a "Pauline Christian intimately familiar with the Pauline epistles, especially with Colossians, writing about 90," who sought in Ephesians "to put in a plea for the true catholicism in the meaning of Paul and in his name."
(3) Certain of these positions require that we should examine the doctrinal objections. (a) First of these is the claim that Ephesians has a different conception of the person and work of Christ from the acknowledged epistles of Paul. Not only have we the exaltation of Christ which we find in Colossians 1:16 ff, but the still further statement that it was God's purpose from the beginning to "sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth" (Ephesians 1:10). This is no more than the natural expansion of the term, "all things," which are attributed to Christ in 1 Corinthians 8:6, and is an idea which has at least its foreshadowing in Romans 8:19-20 and 2 Corinthians 5:18-19. The relation between Christ and the church as given in Ephesians 1:22 and Ephesians 5:23 is in entire agreement with Paul's teaching in Romans 12:1-21, and 1 Corinthians 12:1-31. It is still the Pauline figure of the church as the body of Christ, in spite of the fact that Christ is not thought of as the head of that body. The argument in the epistle does not deal with the doctrine of the cross from the standpoint of the earlier epistles, but the teaching is exactly the same. There is redemption (Ephesians 1:7, 14; 4:30); reconciliation (Ephesians 2:14-16); forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7; 4:32). The blood of Christ shed on the cross redeems us from our sin and restores us to God. In like manner it is said that the Parousia is treated (Ephesians 2:7) as something far off. But Paul has long since given up the idea that it is immediately; even in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 he shows that an indeterminate interval must intervene, and in Romans 11:25 he sees a period of time yet unfulfilled before the end. (b) The doctrine of the church is the most striking contrast to the earlier epistles. We have already dealt with the relation of Christ to the church. The conception of the church universal is in advance of the earlier epistles, but it is the natural climax of the development of the apostle's conception of the church as shown in the earlier epistles. Writing from Rome with the idea of the empire set before him, it was natural that Paul should see the church as a great whole, and should use the word ekklesia absolutely as signifying the oneness of the Christian brotherhood. As a matter of fact the word is used in this absolute sense in 1 Corinthians 12:28 before the Captivity Epistles (compare 1 Corinthians 1:2; 10:32). The emphasis here on the unity of Jew and Gentile in the church finds its counterpart in the argument of the Epistle to the Romans, though in Ephesians this is "urged on the basis of God's purpose and Christian faith, rather than on the Law and the Promises." Neither is it true that in Ephesians the Law is spoken of slightingly, as some say, by the reference to circumcision (1 Corinthians 2:11). In no case is the doctrinal portion of the epistle counter to that of the acknowledged Pauline epistles, though in the matter of the church, and of Christ's relationship to it and to the universe, there is evidence of progress in the apostle's conception of the underlying truths, which none the less find echoes in the earlier writings. "New doctrinal ideas, or a new proportion of these ideas, is no evidence of different authorship." (c) In the matter of organization the position of Ephesians is not in any essential different from what we have in 1 Cor.
(4) The linguistic argument is a technical matter of the use of Greek words that cannot well be discussed here. The general differences of style, the longer "turgid" sentences, the repetitions on the one hand; the lack of argument, the full, swelling periods on the other, find their counterpart in portions of Romans. The minute differences which show themselves in new or strange words will be much reduced in number when we take from the list those that are due to subjects which the author does not discuss elsewhere (e.g. those in the list of armor in Ephesians 6:13 ff). Holtzmann (Einl, 25) gives us a list of these hapax legomena (76 in all). But there are none of these which, as Lock says, Paul could not have used, though there are certain which he does not use elsewhere and others which are only found in his accepted writings and here. The following stand out as affording special ground for objection. The phrase "heavenly places" (ta epourania, Ephesians 1:3, 10; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12) is peculiar to this epistle. The phrase finds a partial parallel it in 1 Corinthians 15:49 and the thought is found in Philippians 3:20. The devil (ho diabolos, Ephesians 4:27; 6:11) is used in place of the more usual Satan (satanas). But in Acts Paul is quoted as using diabolos in 13:10 and satanas in 26:18. It is at least natural that he would have used the Greek term when writing from Rome to a Greek-speaking community. The objection to the expression "holy" (hagiois) apostles (Ephesians 3:5) falls to the ground when we remember that the expression "holy" (hagios) is Paul's common word for Christian and that he uses it of himself in this very epistle (Ephesians 3:8). In like manner "mystery" (musterion), "dispensation" (oikonomia) are found in other epistles in the same sense that we find them in here.
The attack on the epistle fails, whether it is made from the point of teaching or language; and there is no ground whatever for questioning the truth of Christian tradition that Paul wrote the letter which we know as the Epistle to the Ephesians.
II. Place and Date of Writing. The time and place of his writing Ephesians turn on the larger question of the chronology of Paul's life (see PAUL) and the relation of the Captivity Epistles to each other; and the second question whether they were written from Caesarea or Rome (for this see PHILEMON,EPISTLE TO ). Suffice it here to say that the place was undoubtedly Rome, and that they were written during the latter part of the two years' captivity which we find recorded in Acts 28:30. The date will then be, following the later chronology, 63 or 64 AD; following the earlier, which is, in many ways, to be preferred, about 58 AD.
III. Destination. To whom was this letter written?
1. Title: The title says to the Ephesians. With this the witness of the early church almost universally agrees. It is distinctly stated in the Muratorian Fragment (10b, 1. 20); and the epistle is quoted as to the Ephesians by Irenaeus (Adv. Haer., v.14, 3; 24, 3); Tertullian (Adv. Marc., v.11, 17; De Praesc., 36; De Monag., v); Clement of Alexandria (Strom., iv.65; Paed., i.18) and Origen (Contra Celsum, iii.20). To these must be added the evidence of the extant manuscripts and VSS, which unite in ascribing the epistle to the Ephesians. The only exception to the universal evidence is Tertullian's account of Marcion (circa 150 AD) who reads Ad Laodicenos (Adv. Marc., v.11: "I say nothing here about another epistle which we have with the heading `to the Ephesians,' but the heretics `to the Laodiceans' .... (v.17): According to the true belief of the church we hold this epistle to have been dispatched to the Ephesians, not to the Laodiceans; but Marcion had to falsify its title, wishing to make himself out a very diligent investigator").
2. The Inscription: This almost universal evidence for Ephesus as the destination of our epistle is shattered when we turn to the reading of the first verse. Here according to Textus Receptus of the New Testament we read "Paul unto the saints which are at Ephesus (en Epheso) and to the faithful in Christ Jesus." When we look at the evidence for this reading we find that the two words en Epheso are lacking in Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, and that the corrector of the cursive known as 67 has struck them out of his copy. Besides these a recently described MS, Cod. Laura 184, giving us a text which is so closely akin to that used by Origen that the scribe suggests that it was compiled from Origen's writings, omits these words (Robinson, Ephesians, 293). To this strong manuscript evidence against the inclusion of these two words in the inscription we must add the evidence of Origen and Basil. Origen, as quoted in Cramer's Catena at the place, writes: "In the Ephesians alone we found the expression `to the saints which are,' and we ask, unless the phrase `which are' is redundant, what it can mean. May it not be that as in Exodus He who speaks to Moses declares His name to be the Absolute One, so also those who are partakers of the Absolute become existent when they are called, as it were, from non-being into being?" Origen evidently knows nothing here of any reading en Epheso, but takes the words "which are" in an absolute, metaphysical sense. Basil, a century and a half later, probably refers to this comment of Origen (Contra Eun., ii.19) saying: "But moreover, when writing to the Ephesians, as to men who are truly united with the Absolute One through clear knowledge, he names them as existent ones in a peculiar phrase, saying `to the saints which are and faithful in Christ Jesus.' For so those who were before us have handed it down, and we also have found (this reading) in old copies." In Jerome's note on this verse there is perhaps a reference to this comment on Origen, but the passage is too indefinitely expressed for us to be sure what its bearing on the reading really is. The later writers quoted by Lightfoot (Biblical Essays, 384 f) cannot, as Robinson shows (Eph, 293), be used as witnesses against the Textus Receptus. We may therefore conclude that the reading en Epheso was wanting in many early manuscripts, and that there is good ground for questioning its place in the original autograph.
But the explanations suggested for the passage, as it stands without the words, offend Pauline usage so completely that we cannot accept them. To take "which are" in the phrase "the saints which are" (tois ousin) as absolute, as Origen did; or as meaning "truly," is impossible. It is possible to take the words with what follows, "and faithful" (kai pistois), and interpret this latter expression (pistois) either in the New Testament sense of "believers" or in the classical sense of "steadfast." The clause would then read either "to the saints who are also believers," or "to the saints who are also faithful," i.e. steadfast. Neither of these is wholly in accord with Paul's normal usage, but they are at least possible.
3. The Evidence of the Letter Itself: The determining factor in the question of the destination of the epistle lies in the epistle itself. We must not forget that, save perhaps Corinth, there was no church with which Paul was so closely associated as that in Ephesus. His long residence there, of which we read in Acts (chapters 19; 20), finds no echo in our epistle. There is no greeting to anyone of the Christian community, many of whom were probably intimate friends. The close personal ties, that the scene of Acts 20:17-38 shows us existed between him and his converts in Ephesus, are not even hinted at. The epistle is a calm discussion, untouched with the warmth of personal allusion beyond the bare statement that the writer is a prisoner (Ephesians 3:1; 4:1), and his commendation of Tychicus (Ephesians 6:21-22), who was to tell them about Paul's condition in Rome. This lack of personal touch is intensified by the assumption underlying Ephesians 3:1-21 and 4 that the readers do not know his knowledge of the mysteries of Christ. In 3:2 and 4:21,22 there is a particle (eige, "if indeed") which suggests at least some question as to how far Paul himself was the missionary through whom they believed. All through the epistle there is a lack of those elements which are so constant in the other epistles, which mark the close personal fellowship and acquaintance between the apostle and those to whom he is writing.
4. Conclusion: This element in the epistle, coupled with the strange fact of Marcion's attributing it to the Laodiceans, and the expression in Colossians 4:16 that points to a letter coming from Laodicea to Colosse, has led most writers of the present day to accept Ussher's suggestion that the epistle is really a circular letter to the churches either in Asia, or, perhaps better, in that part of Phrygia which lies near Colosse. The readers were evidently Gentiles (Ephesians 2:1; Ephesians 3:1-2) and from the mission of Tychicus doubtless of a definite locality, though for the reasons given above this could not well be Ephesus alone. It is barely possible that the cities to whom John was bidden to write the Revelation (Revelation 1:1-20 through Revelation 3:1-22) are the same as those to whom Paul wrote this epistle, or it may be that they were the churches of the Lycus valley and its immediate neighborhood. The exact location cannot be determined. But from the fact that Marcion attributed the epistle to Laodicea, possibly because it was so written in the first verse, and from the connection with Colossians, it is at least probable that two of these churches were at Colosse and Laodicea. On this theory the letter would seem to have been written from Rome to churches in the neighborhood of, or accessible to, Colosse, dealing with the problem of Christian unity and fellowship and the relations between Christ and the church and sent to them by the hands of Tychicus. The inscription was to be filled in by the bearer, or copies were to be made with the name of the local church written in, and then sent to or left with the different churches. It was from Ephesus, as the chief city of Asia in all probability, that copies of this circular letter reached the church in the world, and from this fact the letter came to be known in the church at large as that from Ephesus, and the title was written "to the Ephesians," and the first verse was made to read to the "saints which are in Ephesus."
IV. Relation to Other New Testament Writings. Ephesians raises a still further question by the close resemblances that can be traced between it and various other New Testament writings.
1. Peter: The connection between Ephesians and 1 Peter is not beyond question. In spite of the disclaimer of as careful a writer as Dr. Bigg (ICC) it is impossible to follow up the references given by Holtzmann and others and not feel that Peter either knew Ephesians or at the very least had discussed these subjects with its author. For, as Dr. Hort tells us, the similarity is one of thought and structure rather than of phrase. The following are the more striking passages with their parallels in 1 Peter: Ephesians 1:3 (1 Peter 1:3); 1 Peter 1:18-20 (1 Peter 1:3-5); 1 Peter 2:18-22 (1 Peter 2:4-6); 1 Peter 1:20-22 (1 Peter 3:22); 1 Peter 3:9 (1 Peter 1:20); 1 Peter 3:20 (1 Peter 1:12); 1 Peter 4:19 (1 Peter 1:14). The explanations that 1 Peter and Ephesians are both from the pen of the same writer, or that Ephesians is based on 1 Pet, are overthrown, among other reasons, by the close relation between Ephesians and Colossians.
2. Johannine Writings: The connection with the Apocalypse is based on Ephesians 2:20 as compared with Revelation 21:14; Ephesians 3:5 and Revelation 10:7; Ephesians 5:11 and Revelation 18:4, and the figure of the bride of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7; compare Ephesians 5:25). Holtzmann adds various minor similarities, but none of these are sufficient to prove any real knowledge of, let alone dependence on Ephesians. The contact with the Fourth Gospel is more positive. Love (agape) and knowledge (gnosis) are used in the same sense in both Ephesians and the Gospel. The application of the Messianic title, the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6), to Christ does not appear in the Gospel (it is found in Matthew 3:17), but the statement of the Father's love for Him constantly recurs. The reference to the going up and coming down of Christ (Ephesians 4:9) is closely akin to John 3:13 ("No man hath ascended into heaven, but he," etc.). So, too, Ephesians 5:11, 13 finds echo in John 3:19-20; Ephesians 4:4, 7 in John 3:34; Ephesians 5:6 in John 3:36. Ephesians 5:8 f is akin to 1 John 1:6 and Ephesians 2:3 to 1 John 3:10.
3. Colossians: When we turn to Colossians we find a situation that is without parallel in the New Testament. Out of 155 verses in Ephesians, 78 are found in Colossians in varying degrees of identity. Among them are these: Ephesians 1:6 parallel Colossians 1:13; Ephesians 1:16 ff parallel Colossians 1:9; Ephesians 1:21 ff parallel Colossians 1:16 ff; Ephesians 2:16 parallel Colossians 2:20; Ephesians 4:2 parallel Colossians 3:12; Ephesians 4:15 parallel Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 4:22 parallel Colossians 3:9; Ephesians 4:32 parallel Colossians 3:12 ff; Ephesians 5:5 parallel Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:19 ff parallel Colossians 3:16 ff; Ephesians 6:4 parallel Colossians 3:21; Ephesians 6:5-9 parallel Colossians 3:22 through Colossians 4:1. For a fuller list see Abbott (ICC , xxiii). Not only is this so, but there is an identity of treatment, a similarity in argument so great that Bishop Barry (NT Commentary for English Readers, Ellicott) can make a parallel analysis showing the divergence and similarity by the simple device of different type. To this we must add that there are at least a dozen Greek words common to these two epistles not found elsewhere. Over against this similarity is to be set the dissimilarity. The general subject of the epistles is not approached from the same standpoint. In one it is Christ as the head of all creation, and our duty in consequence. In the other it is the church as the fullness of Christ and our duty--put constantly in the same words--in consequence thereof. In Ephesians we have a number of Old Testament references, in Colossians only one. In Ephesians we have unique phrases, of which "the heavenly spheres" (ta epourania) is most striking, and the whole treatment of the relation of Jew and Gentile in the church, and the marriage tie as exemplified in the relation between Christ and the church. In Colossians we have in like manner distinct passages which have no parallel in Ephesians, especially the controversial section in chapter 2, and the salutations. In truth, as Davies (Ephesians, Paul to Ephesians, Colossians, and Philippians.) well says: "It is difficult indeed to say, concerning the patent coincidences of expression in the two epistles, whether the points of likeness or of unlikeness between them are the more remarkable." This situation has given rise to various theories. The most complicated is that of H. Holtzmann, who holds that some passages point to a priority of Colossians, others to that of Ephesians; and as a result he believes that Colossians, as we have it, is a composite, based on an original epistle of Paul which was expanded by the author of Ephesians--who was not Paul--after he had written this epistle. So Holtzmann would give us the original Colossians (Pauline), Ephesians (based on it), and the present Colossians (not Pauline) expanded from the former through the latter. The theory falls to the ground on its fundamental hypothesis, that Colossians as it stands is interpolated. The most reasonable explanation is that both Colossians and Ephesians are the work of Paul, written at practically the same time, and that in writing on the same subjects, to different people, there would be just the differences and similarity which we have in these epistles. The objection that Paul could not repeat himself and yet differ as these two letters do is purely imaginary. Zahn shows us that men do just this very thing, giving an account of Bismarck's speaking on a certain subject to a group of officers and later to a large body of men, and yet using quite different language. Moreover, Paul is not averse to repeating himself (compare Romans and Galatians and 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy) when to do so will serve his purpose. "Simultaneous authorship by one writer," and that writer Paul, is the only explanation that will satisfy all the facts in the case and give them due proportion.
V. The Purpose. If our interpretation of the circumstances, composition and destination of Ephesians be right, we are now in a position to look beneath the surface and ask why the apostle wrote it. To understand its central theme we must remember that Paul, the prisoner of the Lord, is writing in the calm of his imprisonment, far from the noise and turmoil, the conflict and strife, that marked his earlier life. He is now able to look out on the church and get a view of it in its wholeness, to see the part it is to play in God's scheme for the restoration of the human race, to see God's purpose in it and for it and its relation to Him. With this stand-point he can write to the churches about Ephesus on the occasion of Tychicus' return to Colosse, not to correct false views on some special point, but to emphasize the great central truth which he had put in the very forefront of his letter. God's eternal purpose is to gather into one the whole created universe, to restore harmony among His creatures and between them and Himself. The apostle's whole prayer is for this end, his whole effort and desire is toward this goal: that they may have full, clear knowledge of this purpose of God which He is working out through Christ Jesus, who is the head of the church, the very fullness of Him who is being fulfilled all over the world. Everything, for the apostle, as he looks forth upon the empire, centers in the purpose of God. The discord between the elements in the church, the distinction between Jew and Gentile, all these must yield to that greater purpose. The vision is of a great oneness in Christ and through Him in God, a oneness of birth and faith and life and love, as men, touched with the fire of that Divine purpose, seek to fulfil, each in himself, the part that God has given him to play in the world, and, fighting against the foes of God, to overcome at last.
It is a noble purpose to set before men this great mystery of the church as God's means by which, in Christ, He may restore all men to union with Himself. It is an impossible vision except to one who, as Paul was at the time, is in a situation where the strife and turmoil of outside life can enter but little, but a situation where he can look out with a calm vision and, in the midst of the world's discord, discern what God is accomplishing among men.
VI. Argument. The Argument of Ephesians is as follows:
Greeting.
Hymn of praise to God for the manifestation of His purpose for men in Christ Jesus, chosen from the beginning to a holy life in love, predestined to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, in whom as the Beloved He has given us grace (1:3-6). Redeemed by the blood of Christ by whom we have forgiveness of sins through His grace abounding in us and making us know the mystery of His purpose, namely, to unite all in one, even the entire universe (1:7-10).
For this Israel has served as a preparation, and to this the Gentiles are come, sealed unto salvation by the Holy Spirit of power.
Ephesians 1:155,1Eph 6:1-24a:
Thanksgiving for their faith.
Ephesians 11:1Eph 6:1-24b-21:
Prayer that they may, by the spirit of wisdom and revelation, know their destiny and the power of God to fulfill it.
Ephesians 1:22 through Ephesians 2:10:
Summary of what God has done in Christ. Christ's sovereignty (1:22,23), and headship in the church (1:22,23); His work for men, quickening us from a death of sin into which man has sunk, and exalting us to fellowship with Christ by His grace, who has created us for good works as part of His eternal purpose (2:1-10).
The contrast between the former estate of the Gentiles, as strangers and aliens, and their present one, "near" by the blood of Christ.
Christ, who is our peace, uniting Jew and Gentile and reconciling man to God through the cross; by whom we all have access to the Father.
This is theirs who as fellow-citizens of the saints, built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, become a sanctuary of God in the Spirit.
A digression on the "mystery," i.e. the revelation to Paul, together with a prayer that men may grasp it. The "mystery" is that all men, Jews and Gentiles, are partakers of the promise. Of this Paul is a minister, to whom has been given the stewardship of that mystery, unfolding to all creatures God's wisdom, in accord with His eternal purpose (3:1-13). Prayer that they may live up to their opportunities (3:14-19). Doxology (3:20,21).
The outcome of this privilege, the fulfillment of the Divine purpose, must show itself in unity of life in the Christian fellowship.
The different gifts which the Christians have are for the upbuilding of the church into that perfect unity which is found in Christ.
The spiritual darkness and corruption of the old Gentilelife set over against the enlightenment and purity and holiness of the new life in Christ.
Ephesians 4:25 through Ephesians 6:9:
Special features of the Christian life, arising out of the union of Christians with Christ and making for the fellowship in the church. On the side of the individual: sins in word (4:25-30); of temper (4:31,32); self-sacrifice as opposed to self-indulgence (5:1-8); the contrast of the present and the past repeated (5:9-14); general behavior (5:15-20); on the side of social relations: husband and wife exemplified in the relation of Chris~t and the church (5:23-33); children and parents (6:1-4); servants and masters (6:5-9).
The Christian warfare, its foes and armor and weapons.
Conclusion.
VII. Teaching. The keynote to the doctrinal basis of the epistle is struck at the very outset. The hymn of praise centers in the thought of God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is to Him that the blessing is due, to Him, who had chosen us from the beginning, in whom there is redemption in Eph (1:3-7). God as the very heart and soul of everything, "is over all, and through all, and in all" (4:6). He is the Father from whom all revelation comes (1:17), and from whom every human family derives its distinctive characteristics (3:15). But He is not only Father in relation to the universe: He is in a peculiar sense the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (1:3). The eternity of our Lord is distinctly asserted (1:4,5) as of one existing before the foundation of the world, in whom everything heavenly as well as earthly is united, summed up (1:10; compare 2:12; 4:18). He is the Messiah (the Beloved (1:6) is clearly a Messianic term, as the voice from heaven at Christ's baptism, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," shows (Matthew 3:17)). In Him we are quickened (Matthew 2:5). He is made flesh (Matthew 2:15). He died on the cross (Matthew 2:16), and by His blood (Matthew 1:7) we have redemption (Matthew 4:25), and reconciliation with God (Matthew 2:16). He whom God raised from the dead (Matthew 1:20), now is in heaven (Matthew 1:20; 4:8) from which place He comes (Matthew 4:8), bringing gifts to men. (This interpretation makes the descent follow the ascent, and the passage teaches the return of Christ through His gifts of the Spirit which He gave to the church.) He who is in heaven fills all things (Matthew 4:10); and, from a wealth which is unsearchable (Matthew 3:8), as the Head of the church (Matthew 1:22), pours out His grace to free us from the power of sin (Matthew 2:1). To this end He endues us with His Spirit (Matthew 3:16). This teaching about God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is no abstract theorizing. It is all intensely practical, having at its heart the purpose of God from the ages, which, as we saw above, is to restore again the unity of all things in Him (Matthew 1:9-10); to heal the breach between man and God (Matthew 2:16-17); to break down the separation between Jew and Gentile, and to abolish the enmity not only between them, but between them and God. This purpose of God is to be accomplished in a visible society, the one church, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Matthew 2:20), of which Jesus Christ is the head of the corner, into which men are to be admitted by holy baptism, where they own one Lord, hold to one faith, in one God and Father of all who is above all and through all (Matthew 4:4-7).
The teaching as to the church is one of the most striking elements of the epistle. In the first place we have the absolute use of the term, which has been already discussed. The apostle sees the whole Christian community throughout the world bound together into a unity, one fellowship, one body. He has risen to a higher vision than man had ever had before. But there is a further teaching in the epistle. Not only is the church throughout the world one body, but it is the body of Christ who is its Head (Ephesians 1:21 f). He has, as Lightfoot suggests, the same relation to the church which in Ephesians 1:10 He has to the universe. He is its Head, "the inspiring, ruling, guiding, combining, sustaining power, the mainspring of its activity, the center of its unity, and the seat of its life." But the relation is still closer. If, as the evidence adduced would necessitate, one accepts J. Armitage Robinson's explanation of pleroma, as that without which a thing is incomplete (Eph, 255 f), then the church, in some wonderful mystery, is the complement of Christ, apart from which He Himself, as the Christ, lacks fullness. We are needed by Him, that so He may become all in all. He, the Head of restored humanity, the Second Adam, needs His church, to fulfill the unity which He came upon earth to accomplish (compare Stone, Christian Church, 85, 86). Still further, we find in this epistle the two figures of the church as the Temple of the Spirit (2:21 ff;, and the Bride of Christ (5:23 ff). Under the latter figure we find the marriage relation of the Lord to Israel, which runs through the Old Testament (Hosea 3:5, et al.), applied to the union between Christ and the church. The significance is the close tie that binds them, the self-sacrificing love of Christ and the self-surrender of obedience on the part of the church; and the object of this is that so the church may be free from any blemish, holy and spotless. In the figure of the Temple, which is an expansion of the earlier figure in 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16, we see the thought of a spiritual building, a sanctuary, into which all the diverse elements of the churches grow into a compact unity. These figures sum up the apostle's thought of that in which the Divine purpose finds its fulfillment. The progress forward to that fulfillment is due to the combined effort of God and man. "The church, the society of Christian men .... is built and yet it grows. Human endeavor and Divine energy cooperate in its development" (Westcott). Out of this doctrinal development the apostle works out the practical life by which this Divine purpose can find its fulfillment. Admitted into the fellowship of the church by baptism, we become members one of another Eph (2 Corinthians 4:18). It is on this basis that he urges honesty and patience and truth in our intercourse with each other, and pleads for gentleness and a forgiving spirit (2 Corinthians 4:18). As followers of God we are to keep free from the sins that spring from pride and self-indulgence and any fellowship with the spirit of evil (2 Corinthians 5:1-14). Our life is to be lived as seeking the fulfillment of God's purpose in all the relationships of life (2 Corinthians 5:15 through 2 Corinthians 6:9). All is to be done with the full armor of the Christian soldier, as is fitting for those who fight spiritual enemies (2 Corinthians 6:10 ff). The epistle is preeminently practical, bringing the significance of the great revelation of God's will to the everyday duties of life, and lifting all things up to a higher level which finds its ideal in the indwelling of Christ in our hearts, out of which we may be filled with all the fullness of God (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
LITERATURE.
J. Armitage Robinson, Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians; Westcott, Epistle to the Ephesains; Abbott, "Ephesians and Colossians," International Critical Commentary; Moule, "Ephesians," Cambridge Bible; Salmond, "Ephesians," Expositor's Greek Testament; Macpherson, Commentary on Ephesians; Findlay, "Epistle to the Ephesians," Expositor's Bible; Alexander, "Colossians and Ephesians," Bible for Home and School; Haupt, Meyer's Exeget. und krit. Kommentar; von Soden, Handcommentar; Hort, Prolegomena to the Epistles to the Romans and Ephesians; Dale, Lectures on the Ephesians.
Charles Smith Lewis